


The Aftermath

by keykiyoshi7443



Series: Karma's Life After The Assassination Classroom [3]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist, Assassination Classroom, Ib (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, I make my characers op, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Torture, Multi, Secret Identity, So what, Song Lyrics, This might get graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 112,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9123544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keykiyoshi7443/pseuds/keykiyoshi7443
Summary: In an Au in which Karma Akabane and Rin Okumura are the same person. Basically Karma's adventures at True Cross. A little Ib thrown in so that I could have a somewhat unique feel to the story. No need to know anything about it though to read the story.Karma and Co. have returned from their mission one person short. Now they have to face everyday life as well as just about everything Satan can throw at them? Will Karma be able to keep ANY of his secrets? Well you'll just have to find out.





	1. What Comes Next?

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what this is? But I'm going to try to update once a month. We'll see how that goes. I have soooo many other things I gotta update, but it's been long enough without the second part. Hopefully i can stay ahead of things. If anyone knows anything about Byakko from High school of the Dead and how one would go about breaking a seal of metal blessed by the guy then that would be fantastic info. I really can't find anything tho. 
> 
> Imma try for like 3000 words per chapter this time. And I'm sorry if I accidentally use a third person thing a couple times. This is the only story I'm writing in first person and since I wrote the first one in first person to switch now would be shitty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to read a portugese version
> 
>  
> 
> [here it is](https://www.spiritfanfiction.com/historia/de-volta-ao-fundo-11059507)

Karma/Rin P.O.V

After we returned to the real world everything changed. Paku was dead. We were still alive and we had just burned an art exhibit down. Well, only 1 painting. But Paku was still dead, and we were the only ones who knew. How were we supposed to explain this to her parents? How were we supposed to explain this to anyone? We had spent a total of 3 days in the painting, and Mephisto along with some of the higher class exorcists were waiting for us once we’d jumped out of the painting.

I immediately turned around and pulled out my lighter, setting the painting ablaze while the exorcists conveniently drew the others' attention away. It didn’t really matter anyway. The others were too shell-shocked to be able to notice anything anyway. No one was paying any attention and put up no fight when they were turned and lead away.

I stood and watched it burn, with Garry standing beside me. Mephisto was silent as he watched them. “Well this was certainly an odd turn of events!” he mused. “I didn’t think that you’d have to reveal this particular secret so early. I see you’ve faced Guertena’s world before and lived to tell the tale. Impressive.” I resisted the urge to growl outright at the demon king, was he serious?

“You insensitive prick. Do you realize what just happened? Did you know that this was going to happen? Why did you send us on this mission?!” I demanded harshly, no longer watching the painting burn. Mephisto just grinned at me and walked away.

“Unimportant. You have a funeral to plan and some affairs to sort out. Paku had no next of kin, and as the most senior officer on the mission, that responsibility falls to you” he said flippantly before he turned the corner and left the room. I fell to my knees, taking a moment to think about what had to happen next.

If what Mephisto said was true, then Paku was alone and Izumo was her only family. Considering the fact that Izumo was pretty wrecked by her death and most likely wouldn’t be functioning all that well for a while, she was in no condition to be dealing with Paku’s funeral. Mephisto also wasn’t wrong about me being the one who would be in charge of fixing things.

I was the Paladin after all.

The only problem would be explaining it to Yukio. As far as Yukio knows, the responsibility would fall to him, considering that he was the teacher. Even though Shura was a senior officer, everyone knew that she wouldn’t be able to arrange anything that would actually do Paku justice, so theoretically the duty would fall to Yukio.

Yukio was stressed enough without having to add all of this to the list of things he needed to do. He also needed his time to grieve and come to terms with what happened. The fact was that I was better at compartmentalizing. I could probably convince him to let me help, then it would be easy to just do the whole thing myself without blowing my cover. I could use the excuse that I’m used to making funeral arrangements considering my adoptive parents and my cover for actually discovering demons.

That’s another thing I’d have to fix. I’d told Yukio and Father Fujimoto that I’d only been discovered that because my ‘sister’ was killed. And Yukio may be shaken up, but he wasn’t an inherently dumb boy. He’d catch on to the fact that I’d dropped way too many incorrect hints on Mary. Despite how emotional of a time this was, people were bound to question the events at one point.

Most likely soon after the funeral was arranged too. There weren’t many ways that I could get out of this without having the rest of my lies unraveled. And I couldn’t afford another slip. But that wasn’t important right now. Right now, I have a duty to make sure that everyone was going to be able to make it through the day and the rest that followed. They’d have to get medical attention because they’d no doubt gotten hurt at some point.

The higher ups would get involved to make sure they knew how to cope. To try and get them to talk about it. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone die. Near the end of Korosensei’s life, other assassins were getting real desperate. Some of their schemes were very outrageous and they got dangerous. They were more like suicide missions in the last month.

The government sent psychiatrists to see how we were dealing with all of it. 13-year-old assassins could not be the greatest thing for mental health.

God how I hated those psychiatrists.

This wasn’t the first death I’d seen, not even to first death of a friend really. The first death had been one of my lackeys who – an exorcist too – who’d been unfortunate enough to succumb to his injuries at Purgatory. It hadn’t been pretty, he’d been weak ever since he suffered injuries during the Blue Night. This had just aggravated old injuries, and there wasn’t any coming back from that.

But while it may not be my first time seeing someone die, this was most definitely theirs. The Kyoto Trio liked to pretend that they knew what death was like. They liked to seem important with their story of being orphaned because of the blue night, but they didn’t really know. Maybe Shima, he had that look in his eyes that spoke of experience, but not enough.

He’d still been so truly shocked by it that it had to be a first. He’d probably seen more than the others, but that didn’t really mean much in the face of this. It was sort of like that one episode of Young Justice where they did the failsafe simulation. Robin dealt with it no better than the others of Young Justice despite the fact that he patrolled _Gotham_ of all places.

Shima was no better than Robin. He’d need help too. Even Yukio would need help, because at the end of the day he was still pretty new to exorcisms. He was still being taught things and he still had Father Fujimoto. He still believed that he was the one that needed to protect me instead of the other way around because he couldn’t have my secret being common knowledge lest the Vatican decide to execute me. He was still so naïve, and the ironic thing is that he continues to accuse me of being naïve and only seeing the good. That boy didn’t even know.

He had no idea what I’d seen, what I’d had to do. I am an assassin. There was no one more aware of the world than someone like me.

And Paku had been close with everyone. Losing her had been a major blow. She’d been doubting whether she even wanted to be an exorcist for a while now, and this would have probably been the tipping point of her choosing not to anymore. But now she didn’t even get to have that option.

It had killed her.

 

* * *

 

The funeral was a quiet small affair. But it was still quite beautiful despite the short amount of time I’d had to prepare it. Yukio was a mess ever since the announcement. He’d been struggling with how he was supposed to deal with all of this. How he was supposed to help his students because he was the teacher.

It had been almost too easy to take over. Izumo wasn’t any better though. It seemed as if she’d just shut down. She didn’t speak, not even when Bon made a half-hearted attempt to get a rise out of her. I’d had to handle it on my own. I used the time that the others were in sessions. It was a pretty good excuse. Mephisto, despite appearing to completely not care about the fact that Paku had died beside the fact that it forced him to do a lot of paperwork (that he shoved off to me anyway… bitch), actually took action and insisted that we all have sessions with a professional.

He said that we ‘needed to talk about our feelings’ with just a bit more bullshit thrown in here and there. It was rather ridiculous when you think about it. Of course, I was exempt from that considering the fact that I could take care of myself. I had Garry and Kyoya – who I could call whenever I needed to. His sister was studying to be a psychologist so he knew enough about how to help. She specialized in soldiers with PTSD so he knew how to handle that best oddly enough – so I didn’t really need these pathetic exorcists who couldn’t even see past the fact that someone has demon blood to help me.

They’d probably end up doing more harm than good anyway. It was stupid.

But the rest of the exwires – who were still under the impression that I was just like them, a determined student who wanted to defeat Satan in an act of vengeance – didn’t know that. They thought that I was still going to the sessions. The truth is that I was using that time to plan the funeral.

I was really proud of what I’d manage to get together in such a short amount of time. It was simple like Paku, it’s something that I figure she’d like. The colours were soft and pastel, not the typical somber colours that one would expect from the funeral. It might just be a personal thing, but I always hated the fact that funerals were so sad.

We shouldn’t be tainting their memories with sadness. We should be celebrating their life and reminiscing about all of the good things about them. Paku was always a light-hearted girl who didn’t want anyone to hurt or worry about her. Why would this be any different? We should be celebrating her life and what a wonderful person she was.

So I tried to make it as much about her when she was alive as possible. Luck it seems, was on my side just this once, as it was springtime. There was these beautiful sakura trees that were blooming in the field around the burial ground where Paku’s parents had been buried (yes, I did do my research) and they were Paku’s favourite shade of pink.

I thought it would be fitting to have her be buried (at least symbolically – since we were unable to retrieve her body we were going to bury some of her things) with her parents and laid to rest. I managed to gather some of her things and sort out what she’d put in her will. The girl had been surprisingly prepared, maybe she’d known all along that she wouldn’t walk away from exorcist training. Either way, it made sorting her affairs a lot easier.

There had been a note that she’d written for Izumo, and I dare not read it. Izumo was already such a wreck, this could either help her move on or break her even more. I’d give it to her when the funeral was over.

Unfortunately, there weren’t that many people there at her funeral. All of her family was dead and she’d been living either on her own or with Izumo for a while now, so there was no one save Izumo there for her on that account. The entire cram school class was there, probably out of obligation since they all seemed hell-bent on being their own people and not caring about anyone else in the class. They never got to know her.

Well, Shiemi tried, but she never really had the amount of time needed to become her friend. Yukio was there too, along with Shura and Mephisto. For once in her life Shura wasn’t drunk or nursing a beer, which could be rather worrying. She was probably blaming herself on some level, and I really couldn’t find it in myself to pity her.

She was so overconfident, but if anything it was my fault that she was dead. I just wish that maybe we could have done something. No, I’d learned long ago that that wasn’t a good way to think. Things happen, and there’s nothing that you can do to change any of it. We needed to remember Paku and the mistakes that were made in that disastrous case so that it didn’t happen again.

I had no idea what Mephisto was doing here, but it can’t be good. He was pure demon and didn’t understand human emotions. Even I had trouble with a lot of social expectations – it was so different from our nature – but even I knew that this was not the time to be insensitive. Mephisto had no such reservations and did what he pleased when he pleased.

That was not a good thing to have at a funeral for a teenage girl. She was practically an infant compared to his lifespan. And if the glint in Mephisto’s eyes promised anything, it was trouble.

I gently patted Garry head as he sat on my shoulder. He felt it might be better to simply remain unnoticed, and as such, he transformed into his doll appearance and sat on my shoulder. Most people would think he’s either a doll or an ordinary summon. Garry wasn’t good with funerals, he’d told me about how he’d been to far too many when he was a kid. In that way, he was like Paku. He’d never had much family.

And his ‘absence’ from the funeral was as much for him as it was for the others. He wasn’t technically _one of them_ since he wasn’t human. He was just a demon summon and the students would find it weird considering they were taught that demons didn’t really feel. How absurd. I’d have to fix that eventually. Hopefully, they’d be more open-minded when they discovered who my father was.

I find I’m beginning to grow rather fond of these teens. They weren’t quite the normal that I was seeking when I’d imagined what would come after Kunugikaoka, but they were still people I considered friends. No matter how thick headed they may be. After all, Bon reminded him an awful lot of Terasaka, and now we were pretty good friends (considering I was technically his employer). Bon and the others will eventually warm up to me, especially my sunnier persona.

The dark confident version of me they saw before would be a onetime thing. It would slip from their minds eventually. It paled in importance compared to what we’d lost. The only problem would be Shura, but I could deal with her eventually. She wouldn’t be a problem for long if I had my way.

Anyway, the funeral was going exactly as planned up until the very end. Everything went off without a hitch and we were all gathered around the freshly dug dirt. I produced a single pink rose from my lapel and gently placed it on the dirt by the elegant headstone. We were silent for a moment, each of us paying our own personal respects to Paku’s memory when Mephisto had to go and ruin everything with his bad timing.

“Now, I know this is a very somber affair, but there is a silver lining my dear students!” Mephisto grinned at them cheekily. Bon glared at him. “You see, you are all now fully qualified to be Exwires! Congratulations!!!” he cried triumphantly. That was the last straw for Bon and he launched himself at him screaming in a rage.

“SHE’S DEAD YOU FUCKING MORON. SHE’S GONE AND YOU THINK THAT THIS MAKES IT BETTER?!” he was so full of rage that he wasn’t seeing straight. Shima and Konekomaru were holding him back but Bon was too busy hiding his hurt behind anger to notice or even care. All he cared about was making _someone_ pay for Paku’s death.

It was rather ironic considering he hadn’t cared about her existence up until the moment where she ceased living. I would point it out, but now wasn’t the time to be getting a rise out of Bon.

Izumo just stood looking on in sorrow. Her expression was blank, and there was no emotion in her eyes. Only the way she held herself betrayed any sort of emotion. She was hunched over and curled in on herself as if she was trying to protect herself from the world. She wasn’t all there. I shot a glare at Mephisto, silently telling him to shut the fuck up or else, and walking towards her still form.

I carefully approached her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Then from my pocket, I produced a single letter and handed it to her. On the front of the piece of paper, there was a single name penned in beautiful calligraphy. “She left this for you,” I whispered gently as I held it out to her. She looked up at me for a moment, eyes shining with tears as she reached to take the letter with a shaking hand.

She clutched it tightly in her hands before sending me a look I couldn’t quite decipher. Then she collapsed by Paku’s grave and let out a small sob. After receiving another glare from me, Mephisto deemed it appropriate to leave and he flounced off to do whatever it was that he did in his spare time.

The others stood around me and Paku awkwardly; Yukio was doing his best to console a quietly sobbing Shiemi, and Shima and Konekomaru were both trying their best to calm him down, and Shura was just watching everyone with a calculated gaze.

I looked sadly at everyone’s defeated gazes. They shouldn’t be mourning a comrade this soon into the game. That was pretty hypocritical of me, but I got into the lifestyle a lot earlier than this, and with humans to boot. They were still naïve and didn’t have to worry about things like life and death. This was just their occupation and an extra grade. But now, things had changed and they would have that fear that this might be their last day hanging over their head every time they went on a mission.

This was supposed to be an easy mission, but then things went haywire. Maybe they’d take this lesson and learn to be weary. But knowing this particular group of students, avoidance would probably be their go-to reaction. He knew from experience, that wouldn’t work for long. But it was still a way to cope and they’d have to figure it out on their own. Everyone deals with grief differently.


	2. A Reunion and a Confrontation

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I reached into my duffle and grabbed the small packages that I had finished making up last night. Then I passed them out to everyone. They looked at them confused before I began to explain. “They’re simple protection charms. I engraved some runes and other protective symbols. Keep them with you.” I offered simply. That was the only explanation they were going to get.

I pulled out my own that I had made to show them. It was one of the keys that I had gathered from the Fabricated World. Mine was the black and red key, and I had given the others the keys that had matched their roses. But luckily for me, all of the keys either had a bronze base so it was a lot easier to add the protection charms. I engraved different protection runes into them then added some roses. I had gone to Sai for aid with the seals as well as the designs. He was a better artist than me after all.

Then I had filled in the roses with holy silver and welded on a loop of iron to attach it to a simple cord. I had soaked theirs in special herbs – leaving my own out for obvious reasons) and the cord was now imbued with anti-demon protection. It might seem rather old-fashioned, but I was a sentimental person, and if I could weave in some protection then all the better.

No matter how horrible it was, I don’t want them to forget. Because forgetting that would mean forgetting Paku. I had managed to sneak in Paku’s pendant with the burial package. Hopefully it would help protect her in the next life, but one could only hope. The others all looked at their packages for a moment before opening them up and agreeing to wear them. I let out a sigh of relief. I couldn’t be everywhere at once, but maybe, just maybe, this would help prevent another one ending up like Paku.

 

* * *

 

We were given a month off of cram school to wrap our heads around everything. But unfortunately that didn’t include regular classes, so all of us were forced to go and endure the stares of our regular classmates. They were told about Paku’s death, although they were simply told that she had been hit by a bus while we’d been on a field trip and she hadn’t made it. Our classmates tried to be understanding, but their nature was just making things worse in my opinion.

At this point, most of us were just trying to make it through the day. Izumo was practically a zombie and I quite frankly had no idea how I was supposed to help her. According to Mephisto, she was indeed seeing the psychiatrists that the others were provided with, but it wasn’t really making a difference. An idiot could see that.

So we were making due with what we had to work with and trying to stay collected. I spent a lot more time away from the dorm building and Yukio began taking more missions. Originally, Yukio had been adamant to be with him every second of the day, but I was used to sneaking out, so I lost him within 5 minutes. Eventually, Yukio gave up and decided to spend his time trying to find a way to cope himself.

He found it by working until all he could think about was exorcising the next demon. I spent every bit of my time that I wasn’t studying or doing homework (or even attending class) down at the club helping Kyoya and Sai manage things. Most of my Class E friends were off at their own schools or out of the country working jobs. Nagisa, in particular, enjoyed taking foreign jobs. He brought in a lot of money, and his school apparently wasn’t bothered by his absences as long as I signed off saying that he was working.

His grades were some of the best so the school wasn’t bothered as long as he didn’t make them look bad. They couldn’t find any dirty connections with the paperwork and as long as no one made the connection between whatever Nagisa was doing, and Ouran Academy, then we were fine.

But I’d finally managed to find a night that everyone would have off – well the Class E anyway, even Karasuma would be there – and we were all going to be spending some time at the club to catch up. I had a private room organized and a couple trusted employees that would be working that specific shift. But it would be a time to catch up and find out what everyone had been doing since Kunugikaoka and Korosensei.

I arrived at Purgatory early to make sure that everything was where it should be. Then it was only a short wait before he was no longer alone and everyone began to trickle into the room. Nagisa and Kayano were the first to arrive as always. They had always been the goody toe shoes of the bunch, so it really wasn’t all that much of a surprise. Of course class reps were next and then the others made it in.

They’d all arrived within half an hour of the assigned time, so I counted that as a win. Then we sat down and I started passing drinks around. Karasuma-sensei frowned at the fact that they were alcoholic, but he didn’t really comment on it. I knew for a fact that _I_ needed a drink, and I’m sure that at least Nagisa needed one as well. He really favored the whole assassination career despite the fact that he was planning on becoming a teacher. It seems that he wants to follow in Korosensei’s footsteps.

Not a bad goal really.

 

“So what’s been going on with everyone? I’ve been a bit busy and unfortunately I couldn’t quite keep the tabs on you guys that I wanted to.” I joked. They knew me well enough by now that they knew that I was joking and not being the creepy boss. Isogai was the first to speak up.

“Well, Maehara and I made it into a pretty okay public school. We’re planning on saving our cuts of the reward for a better university and the start of a bakery. If you want we can conduct Trickster business there too! Kyoya-san hasn’t really been giving any of us that many jobs, but I work as a bar tender here every Friday night.” He said with a confidence, although there was a slight blush when he revealed that he wanted to start a bakery. I merely stirred my drink and smiled softly.

“I’m glad you’ve found a path you want to follow. I’ll support your bakery and get you some business, yeah? You were always the best at baking out of all of us.” I said ruefully. Maehara wrapped an arm around him and smiled at me, looking grateful. Kayano was the next to speak up. She’d been continuing her career as a teenage actor and had a show that she was working on. She was branching out into plays and live shows more than recorded ones.

She was attending Ouran Academy along with Nagisa. Nagisa was just enjoying normal school life and was planning on becoming a teacher. Although he did do quite a lot of assassinations on the side when he had time. But they weren’t the only Kunugikaoka graduates who ended up going to the same school as Kyoya! Asano had chosen to not attend his father’s school and instead attend Ouran. Nagisa and Kayano both claimed that he hadn’t even spoken to them, but they were keeping an eye on his activities. So far he’d kept a pretty low profile, but one could never be too sure.

Terasaka and a couple others had decided to work as body guards and/or bouncers for the club and various clients. Some were just focusing on school. It was nice to talk to everyone again. Bitch-sensei arrived later than everyone else, but she had officially gotten engaged to Karasuma-sensei, and they were moving in with each other.

Irina was even planning on helping Karasuma-sensei teach us. Mephisto had apparently reached out to her since Shura was not always there as a secondary teacher. Bitch-sensei had the practical knowledge even if she wasn’t an exorcist by trade. She would also be working with Karasuma-sensei on the physical portion of his class. That would certainly be interesting. I wonder how the exwires will react to the fact that I know her as well.

She would probably end up using me as a demonstration just to try and get a rise out of me. 

So unprofessional.

 

Sugino was the last to go. “So I’ve been attending True Cross Academy along with my boyfriend Shindou. You all remember him, right? Well, he got in on a sports scholarship and he’s helping cover my tuition too. He’s planning on going professional. Personally I’m planning on being a coach.” He began, explaining how despite the fact that Shindou still had no idea about what happened with Korosensei due to it being a national security issue (S-class ranked secret), they were still going really strong and were planning on moving it together when they graduated high school.

But then he brought up the subject I was dreading talking about. “But one of the coolest things about True Cross is the cram school. It’s filled with kids that usually stay away from the normal students and it’s considered very elite because there are some really steep requirements to even be considered for acceptance. But I’ve asked around here and apparently, it’s class for hopeful exorcist to be, and Karma is one of them!” he grinned, although his smile fell slightly as he continued talking.

“Even though he’s already fully qualified and technically graduated already. His twin brother is even the teacher! And he’s nothing like Karma at all. Some stupid goody two shoes who only cares about grades. He’s so nice too! But… there’s a rumour that’s been going around the school lately. They say that on a field trip a girl got hit by a car and died on the way to the hospital. Now knowing what I know about the cram school, I believe that’s just a cover story.” He said somberly as he stared at me.

I reluctantly set my drink down, leaning my head on my clasped hands. “Yeah, that’s not all there is to it,” I admitted. “You know how I was gone for a couple days? Well it wasn’t exactly a field trip. It was more like a mission. It was supposed to be our exwire exam, but things got out of hand. 8 civilians had been killed and we were sent to investigate. The problem is, my past came back to haunt me and we were drawn back into the world where I met Garry. Paku didn’t make it out alive.” I said softly.

Karasuma grimaced and rested a hand on my shoulder in a silent attempt at offering some form of comfort. I shrugged him off lightly and lowered my head. “I took charge and we got separated. She died before we could find her. _We_ were lucky to make it out alive.” I revealed. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, the former good mood gone. I felt bad, things were going fine and now I’ve ruined it with my self-loathing bullshit.

“Well, there’s no use feeling guilty about it. There’s nothing you can do now. You gave her a proper funeral and you’ve done the best you could for your classmates.” Nagisa said, breaking the awkward moment of silence. “To Paku! May she rest peacefully!” He said, raising his drink in a toast. I smiled bitterly at him as I, along with the others, followed his example.

“To Paku!”

 

* * *

 

Unfortunately, the school week after that wasn’t all that great. Most of the students still kept away from the cram school kids, respecting the fact that watching someone die wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to get over. In fact, the majority of the students here were really great about it and didn’t bother us or whisper when we were near.

It was a really stark change compared to how it was at Kunugikaoka. Anything and everything that could be used against Class E was used. It was very cut throat and only the top dogs survived. It was Class E against the world. Sometimes I kind of missed that comradery that came with being a Class E student. The cram school kids weren’t all that close, and it seems as if Paku’s death might drive us even further apart.

Other times I’m glad that I didn’t have to deal with absolutely everyone thinking that they’re better than me and that I was worse than the dirt beneath their shoes. Like Asano did. I did not pity Nagisa and Kayano for having to deal with him. That couldn’t be fun.

But while I didn’t have the entire school against me, I did seem to have made one enemy without my knowledge. Apparently, he knew Yukio when they were kids? He didn’t like Yukio, and since I was his twin brother I was apparently in the same boat as Yukio as far as teasing went. This guy’s name was Shiratori Reiji and I have to say that he was a grade A jerk.

Compared to him Asano and the rest of Kunugikaoka were very civil. The way that Class A had fought with us had been purely political moves as well as underhanded comments. They had to appear to be the good guys and the perfect students that weren’t in the wrong. Nothing was ever glaringly obvious or physical. It was carefully worded and done so that they couldn’t get in trouble for it.

 _They_ were smart about their hatred.

Now Shiratori Reiji ad his goons, on the other hand, were completely tactless. There was no other way to say it, they were the playground bullies but grown up. Yukio had once mentioned the fact that it was rumored that he’d gotten involved with the Yakuza and other gangs. There’s even been a rumour that he’d been recruited by the Tricksters at one point.

That was hard not to laugh at. As if any gang with any common sense would recruit this Neanderthal. I know that I’ve mocked Terasaka for that same thing, but Terasaka was a force to be reckoned with. He wasn’t completely stupid. Shiratori was.

He seemed to be the type of asshole that just picked on people because they were smaller or smarter and less physically inclined. He was a twig! It was completely hypocritical. I’d watched some of his street brawls too, and he was horrible at fighting. It was a wonder he ever got the upper hand in any situation.

He made tales comments that were meant to be personal and to hurt a lot. And most of his victims ran crying so there were very little confrontation and people saying what he was doing was wrong. His father’s position and money protected him. It was so stupid.

And I know this sounds hypocritical because I was the same type of asshole, but I assure you that he and I are nothing alike. _I_ didn’t pick on those who were weaker than me. Yes, I attacked with hurtful words, but I only attacked those who had hurt my precious people. (God I sound like Sai’s friend Naruto – who was part of an attack squad called the Rookie 9 and once joined by another strike force was called the Konoha 12. I’d invited them to join me ever since I’d encountered their parent gang the Akatsuki. They, along with the Akatsuki handled foreign affairs for the Tricksters. In exchange they were given access to anything the Tricksters had.)

Shiratori Reiji was just a bully. I was an asshole so that my friends didn’t have to be.

But Reiji didn’t know about my asshole tendencies. To him – and the rest of the students – I was just the smart happy go lucky scholarship student who was really good at cooking and was Yukio Okumura’s twin brother. Yukio was the other scholarship student that was pretty famous and had an entire fan club. I pitied him. I’d seen the girls chase after Naruto’s boyfriend, so I knew a fan cub was definitely _not_ a good thing.

But my otouto wasn’t the point. The point is that Reiji hates me for some unknown reason, and now I was the easiest target for his tormenting. The other cram students never hung around the normal students, so I was the only one that he’d be able to mock for Paku’s death. Yup, he was _that_ much of an asshole that he thought it would be appropriate to mock someone for someone’s death. He wasn’t even subtle about it!

He’d make passing comments about how stupid the cram school students were, and I’d let that hate be because I was used to that and it was no issue. No, what was an issue was the fact that he’d decided that now was the time to actually confront me.

Unfortunately I had been walking to where I usually ate lunch alone in a hidden corner when we crossed paths. I was running late and there wasn’t many people nearby (although there was a couple dozen kids eating their lunch in the courtyard I was passing through) so Shiratori must have felt a bit more confident in his ability to get away with his actions.

(I’d caught that asshole cutting the legs off pigeons and let me tell you it took a lot of self-control not to go over there and just knock him out.)

I was just minding my own business and rushing to get away from such a vulnerable position (the middle of a wide-open courtyard) when I heard a voice from behind me. “OI! Okumura!” I sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t give up without some sort of confrontation now that he’s cornered me. Freezing on the spot – which was unfortunately in the very middle of the courtyard where everyone could hear and see what was happening – and turned to face him.

He’d brought two of his idiot followers with him. “How does it feel to know that the meek dumb bitch is dead? What was it like to watch the life drain from her eyes?” he asked cruelly. “Personally I believe it is good riddance! You vermin have polluted our school and you should all just go kill yourselves,” he said, sounding very proud of himself for his excellent Nazi-like proclamation.

Of course he had no way to know that that really wasn’t the first person I’d seen die. “Eh? Shiratori-san you should be more careful with how you talk! All you need is a swastika painted on your chest and you’d have a swastika club!” I said cheerfully, none of the emotion reaching my eyes. Apparently he was too stupid to realize that I wasn’t someone that he should try to fuck with, because he proceeds to pull out a flag with the swastika on it. Wow. He was really going full stupid today. That flag was in clear view of all the students in the courtyard.

“Yeah, you pathetic commoners shouldn’t have invaded our school. You don’t deserve to be here! That’s why your pathetic classmate got killed in the first place. I won’t rest until every last one of you are _exterminated_.” Well, he’s done it now. Almost everyone within earshot was glaring at him. They would serve as good witnesses. Now all I would have to do is get him to throw the first punch without looking like the bad guy.

Shouldn’t be too hard.

“Maa, maa, Shiratori-san! You know that Nazism is banned at this academy right? I bet you’re just bluffing.” Anyone with common sense wouldn’t rise to the bait and think that it would be the warning that it appears to be. It’s subtle and to someone who is angry it’s nearly impossible to hear, but I’m warning him that he’ll get in trouble if he continues.

The bystanders seem to understand my sentiment, and out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the girls in the west corner leave quietly, hopefully, to go get a teacher. Reiji really needed to be taken down a peg.

And of course, since Reiji was a stupid little fuck, he took it as a challenge and proceeded to charge me three on one. He reached me just as the girl returned to the courtyard with Yukio, Sugino, Shindou, and a teacher in tow. They saw him charge and throw the first punch. Defending myself was not a crime, so I took great pleasure in being a badass bitch and flipping all three of them in one move. They all hit the floor heavily, the fall knocking the breath out of their lungs.

They stayed down long enough for the teacher and students to all rush over. “What happened?” the teacher demanded harshly. In the back of my mind, I recognized that he was the very stern no-nonsense physics teacher.

“Why sir! Shiratori-san and his two friends here were just harassing me about Paku-chan’s death and the fact that I was of the lower class. He started saying some really controversial things and I warned him that Nazism wasn’t permitted at this school and he attacked!” I replied, pasting on an innocent expression.

I could tell he was reluctant to believe me, but with the witnesses backing me up, he had no choice. He assured me that he would be sorting out a suitable punishment with both the headmaster and the boy’s parents. I resisted the urge to call bullshit. Then he said that he would be notifying my guardian, who just so happened to be Father Fujimoto. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. Time to avoid all phone calls from him.

After the teacher left with Yukio (who promised to help Mr. Yoshino explain the situation to Father Fujimoto) and the trouble makers, I was confronted by Shindou and Sugino. “Hey,” Shindou began, looking rather nervous. “Do you want us to walk you to your group of friends?” The sentiment was nice but entirely unnecessary, I could take care of myself. I wanted to say that, but that would be rude.

Sugino cringed slightly at his boyfriend’s awkward question and proceeded to do some damage control. “Do you want to eat lunch with us from now on?” I thought about it for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, and I agreed. I would prefer to eat lunch with people who I actually knew than be all alone.

I smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next month!!!


	3. Another Side of Things

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I was walking back to the dorm after school alone because Garry was busy taking care of some business down at the club when I noticed something peculiar. It was raining heavily, so my vision wasn’t the best despite my umbrella protecting me from getting wet unless the wind blew, so it was a bit hard to make out what was off. There was an odd splash of colour sitting in front of the boring beige dorm building.

It was Izumo and she looked like an absolute wreck. She was sitting on the porch of my dorm building, soaking wet and looking like a complete and utter mess. Her mascara was running down her face and her hair was messy and matted. Her clothes were completely drenched and she resembled a half-drowned rat. She stared up at me with her large plum coloured eyes as if she was confused as to why she was even here.

After barely taking a single look at her I quickly ushered her into the dorm and out of the heavy rain. Closing the door behind me I quickly closed my umbrella and left it to drip dry by the door. I might have to go out to get some things later and I really didn’t have enough time so I just left it instead of wrapping it up and putting it away.

I ushered Izumo into the kitchen and urged Ukobach to make something warm for her. Then I got a towel and began to sop up some of the water. She was shivering lightly as I lead her towards the bathrooms with the towel draped around her shoulders. “Come on, you should shower and warm up. We can talk about whatever you need to after you’ve gotten warm again. I’ll leave a change of clothes outside of the bathroom. Just come down to the kitchen when you’re finished.” I reassured her softly.

She didn’t seem to have quite heard what I had said, but at least she seemed to comprehend the general meaning of my words. She walked into the washroom a bit dazed, but she seemed to be at least able to shower without aid. That was good. Once I heard the shower turn on and no ominous thumping noises, I proceeded to run towards the dorm room that I slept in. I grabbed one of Garry’s shirts and a pair of shorts that would probably fit her and left them outside of the bathroom door. By the time I made it downstairs and helped Ukobach finish up two mugs of hot chocolate, she was finished.

I placed the mugs on the table as she walked in and sat down on the opposite side of the table from where I was. She was wearing the clothes I had left out for her and had a towel wrapped round her shoulders where her hair rested still dripping water. Thank god she didn’t dye her hair because that was a white towel and I’d never get those stains out.

She placed her wet clothes in a heap on the floor before looking up at me expectantly, some of the life back in her eyes. I sighed and sat down as well, taking a sip of my drink and silently urging her to do the same. She stiffly grabbed her mug and sort of just held it in her hands for a while, silently appreciating the simple warmth it offered.

After a couple minutes, she took a sip or two of the drink, and I began to speak. “Izumo… why was it you came here today,” I tried to speak softly, hoping not to scare her into remaining silent. She was a strong person, but one can only be strong for so long and I _knew_ she wasn’t doing well, especially after that funeral. She stared into her drink silently, as if contemplating what she should say.

“Izumo,” I continued, urging her to respond. “I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s wrong.” She glared at the cup of hot chocolate for a bit and I was scared she wouldn’t respond and instead we’d be stuck in an awkward silence. Then she placed the cup down on the table and looked me in the eye.

“It’s just so hard to believe that she’d gone, you know?” she admitted suddenly. “I keep waking up in the morning expecting that she’d be there making coffee and those lovely omelets that she learned how to make when her mom took her to France when she was 8. But then she isn’t and it all comes crashing down on me and everything is heavy. I just needed an outlet, that’s not a bad thing!” she said, almost making it sound like she was arguing with herself.

She reached up to violently wrench her hand through her loose purple locks, giving me a good view of her forearms. Usually, they would be covered by the school uniform or some simple jewelry, but now that they were bare it was painstakingly obvious what her ‘outlet’ had been. Because of the simple oversized t-shirt I had given her, I could clearly see bright red lines that crisscrossed up and down her forearm.

A cursory glance at the other arm that was resting limply on the table next to her mug showed the same thing. They weren’t that old, which was a good thing. The oldest one was healed over and looked to be around a month old. She seemed self-conscious and quickly covered her arms by crossing them over her chest. She scowled avoiding eye contact, clearly expecting me to judge her.

“Hey,” I said softly, “that’s nothing you need to be ashamed of.” She looked up at me through her choppy bangs uncertainly.

“How do you know?” she mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. I hated to do this, but she did need to talk about it or she’d never get over this incredibly unhealthy habit.

“I was the same once upon a time, Izumo. I made the same mistakes.” I said, trying to convince her I understood. Apparently, I had the opposite effect considering her reaction. She immediately unleashed a rather threatening glare – which was really impressive because she was in an oversized t-shirt and had puffy red eyes from crying – and her eyebrows furrowed in fury.

“How can you possibly understand?” She snarled, “You who probably lived a great life! All of you are the same! None of you ever understand!” she cried angrily, tears flying from her face as she shook her head in fury. I watched her seethe calmly, bottling up my own emotion. People were always like this, believing that they were the only ones to suffer. Well… she was in for a reality check.

“You know, you’re not the only one who’s had a harsh life.” I said softly, holding up a hand to cut her off when she opened her mouth to refute me. “Now let me finish before you respond. I used to be like you. My childhood was shitty, there’s no denying it. My birth parents were never there and I was adopted by a couple who were nice while the adults were around and showed their true colours the second that they were alone with me.”

I took a deep breath as I began to recount my life, omitting out all the parts that wouldn’t help in this situation. “They were abusive, and I hated myself for a long time. The only thing that made me feel better was cutting. It was an excellent outlet for all the pain I was feeling, and better yet I was punishing myself for what I thought was my fault. I was the screw up child that was lucky to even be adopted. That was my fault, right?” I asked as I stared at her in the eyes. She shook her head almost unconsciously, and I suppressed a small smile.

“I know that it isn’t my fault now, in fact I embrace that side of me from time to time, but I didn’t know it then. All I knew was that my parents didn’t love me and I didn’t know how to fix it. It became a comfort to me.” I continued my narrative, placing my arms on the table in Izumo’s view. There were tattoos on my arms and the arm braces, but there were still some pretty obvious scars. They had faded over time, but the deeper ones near the base of my wrist were still very obvious if you actually looked at them.

They were easy to overlook at a glance, but any longer than 5 seconds and BOOM long raised white scars. She stared at them wide-eyed for a while, almost as if she couldn’t believe that they were real. “Yeah, I got pretty addicted to it for a while. But then my parents were complaining about my grades and I had to study my ass off and didn’t really have time for this hobby anymore. I stopped for a while but then the incident with Garry happened and I started again.”

“My 9 year old self wasn’t all that great with dealing with death.” I joked, but it really wasn’t that funny. “So the cycle continued, I was dealing with it. But then I suddenly wasn’t dealing with it anymore. It was my second year in middle school when it happened. I had had enough, I snapped.” I admitted ashamed. It was definitely _not_ one of my proudest moments, but I had to get Izumo to understand. I didn’t want to see her go down the same path I did.

“I had been defending this kid who was being bullied and I may or may not have gotten into a physical fight. Now normally that shouldn’t really be such a big problem, but I got kicked down from Class A to Class E. Now Class A is for the smart people and it gets dumber as the letter goes down. Class E is for the rejects and those that will fail in life.” I explained, ignoring the growing look of horror on her face as I continued.

“My adoptive parents had drilled it into my head that that was completely unacceptable and I wasn’t dealing well for the weeks that I was suspended. I tried to commit suicide.” I admitted. Her head snapped up sharply looking at me in horror.

“Just because grades?” she breathed in shock. I smiled sadly, blushing slightly in embarrassment. It sounds silly now that I admit it, but it had been crushing when I first found out. I couldn’t believe I’d screwed up so badly and I’d been in a pretty bad place.

“Yeah, but luckily for me, I had a friend who found me and was able to save me. He was pretty skittish around me for a while after that, insisting on making sure I was okay. He was a blessing and I was finally able to kick that habit. Instead I got into painting and other forms of art and it really helped. It was the distraction I needed and I was able to focus on all the stuff that I really needed to.” _  
_

_Like killing my teacher_ , I mentally added.

A look of dawning realization reached her eyes as she mumbled reverently, “So that’s why you paint so much…”

I snickered softly. “Yeah, and that’s also the reason that I’m so good with knives!” I try to joke. We’d reached that part of the night where it was either laugh or cry and since neither of us really wanted to cry anymore we sort of just collapsed into a giggling mess. During this time I thought back to my days in Kunugikaoka.

I had freaked a lot of people out with my knowledge on knives and how to handle them to make a cut hurt the most during my days with Class E. It was a good intimidation tactic, and I had scared off Asano many times by showing a little too much of my bloodthirstiness. I even licked a knife once. He’d pretty much left me alone for the week after _that_ particular incident.

“But my point is that you’re not alone, okay? I know what it’s like and what to do. You can come to me to talk whenever you need to, no strings attached. Well, other than doing your best to stop… _this_. It will only hurt you in the long run no matter how good a solution it may seem like now.” I continued softly. She looked at me with watery eyes for a while, the two of us just sitting in the dorms kitchen silently as the sky began to grow dark.

“Thank you,” she murmured. I grinned softly and got up to make some food and throw her clothes into the dryer.

“Stay for the night, we can work on that stupid assignment that my younger brother gave us today.” I said, making a slight effort to change the mood in the room. She nodded before leaving to grab her bag that she’d luckily placed under the stoop and all of the things were still dry. Thank goodness, textbooks were expensive, and I knew for a fact that Izumo liked to take her regular notes on her laptop. Maybe we can get ahead on that history essay that we were told to do as well.

It wasn’t due for another week or so, but it was always a good idea – especially with our jobs – to finish early. More time for other things that were more important. Like memorizing those damn sutras and bible verses. Honestly, if I were anything less than a genius I think this work load would make me shoot myself. It’s pretty ridiculous. But that’s school in a nutshell for you.

As suspected, Izumo grabbed her laptop and a couple of her notebooks and began to work on the kitchen table as I got to work. Placing the soaking wet clothes in the dryer took only a minute and soon I was working on a simple teriyaki meal. It was something that Nagisa had always loved whenever I actually cooked for him, and it was a pretty good comfort food.

I find that food is pretty essential to actually deal with feelings. A good hot meal always cheered people up. Izumo had gotten about halfway through her essay when I finished and we took a break to eat. We spent the rest of the night just laughing together and working on our homework. Yukio was out doing who knows what, but he didn’t come back until the morning.

We stayed up a good portion sending prank texts to Bon and Shima from Yukio’s personal phone and dancing around the dorm building while loudly singing different musicals. You wouldn’t think it at first glance, but once you got to know Izumo she’s pretty chill. She had a nice voice and I would 10/10 sing another duet with her. But she is also the type of person who knew Ikkaku’s lucky dance and song by heart?

I know you’re secret now, you closeted Otaku.

We finally collapsed sometime around 3 in the morning and sort of just whispered until we fell asleep wherever we fell. It was fun, something I really hadn’t had the chance to do in a while, not since Korosensei’s death. It was nice to pretend to be a normal dorky teen for once.

And that’s how Yukio found us the next morning when he came in to wake me up for school. We were both sprawled on the floor and woke with a start when the dorm room door opened. Yukio had looked scandalized before announcing that if we didn’t get up no then we would be late. Of course that meant to Yukio that we had about half an hour before we got to school.

Then we were a whirlwind as both Izumo and I rushed around to get ready. I showered while she gathered her things then I was making breakfast while she used the bathroom to freshen up. Then we were out the door with a couple pieces of food in our hands as we raced to the school. We giggled as we crashed into English together a couple minutes before the bell.

Everyone was staring considering they hadn’t seen much of Izumo since that fated day, and what they had seen hadn’t exactly been pretty. Izumo had been a wreck and lashed out at just about everyone. She did that anyway, but it had been getting progressively worse in the past few weeks. It was a pretty odd sight to see her giggling, let alone with me whom she’d claimed to hate because of my ‘sunny’ personality.

During the day I had settled on a pretty basic mix between Rin Okumura and Karma Akabane so seeing me smile didn’t immediately raise alarm bells like it would have a year ago. Although me talking to a girl certainly did. As far as anyone knew I was single and tended to lean towards boys when it came to attraction. Don’t get me wrong, girls are hot, but I’m faithful to Garry.

She flushed lightly before leveling a pretty fierce glare at everyone who was staring at us incredulously. “Mind your own business,” she growled harshly before stomping off to her seat, all signs of her previous good mood gone. After that, the rest of the day went somewhat normal. Everyone was slightly freaked out by how Izumo seemed to be back to normal, but they tried their best to act like nothing was wrong.

A cranky and rude Izumo was still better than that emotionless doll that had been walking through the halls, just going through the motions.  It had been eerie and no one wanted to revisit that time, so they let it be. Something else that had changed rather drastically was that Izumo had begun to sit with me and ­­­­Shindou and Sugino at lunch instead of finding somewhere by herself. And so I found myself making her food as well as my two other friends.

They were very good about it too, not questioning it and just accepting her. Luckily they also didn’t bring up anything from our past. Izumo would get suspicious now that she was no longer a zombie. She was always one of the more intuitive of her classmates. But thankfully, she was back to normal by the time cram school started back up.


	4. Flashbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BITCH-SENSEI

Karma/Rin P.O.V

_It was a pretty average day. Nothing really special was happening, and the weather was mild. It was lunch time. I don’t really do much at lunch anyway, my parents rarely bothered to provide me with food, so I usually bought a drink from the vending machine and called it a day. It really wasn’t that healthy of a thing to do, but was anything I did considered healthy?_

_Not lately anyway. Things were beginning to become too much. That sounds so cliché even to my own ears, but that didn’t make it any less true. We’d received our midterm marks about a week ago, and my parents had been less than pleased even though I was within the top 10 students in the entire school. It was ridiculous. I could never seem to please them no matter what I did._

_Now, I bet you’re thinking that it’s foolish to be so down about grades like that, especially if they’re so amazing. My parents are just assholes and I shouldn’t care about what they think right? Well that in itself is foolish thinking. You don’t know what they’re like. Behind the sweet smiles they give the neighbors are monsters._

_The type of people that you dread to hear about on the news. That’s right, those assholes are abusive, and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it. It’s utterly ridiculous. Adults never listen to anything minor has to say. We’re all just liars who are trying to get people’s attention. Everything we say is obviously. Made. Up. The fools._

_I’ve tried to tell law enforcement about my situation many times before. But did they do anything? No. They sat on their pathetic asses and looked at me like I was the one who had done something wrong. It wasn’t my choice to be beaten after doing something even remotely wrong! But it wasn’t a secret that I got into fights, so my injuries could apparently be excused because of that._

_No one helps the troubled kids._

_And everyone automatically assumed that I was the one who went looking for trouble and was just some dumb delinquent without even bothering to look at my grades. I was in the A Class of Kunugikaoka. You didn’t get there by any accident. Only the smartest made it there. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!_

_I try my hardest to get good grades and I’m in the top 10. That should be enough. But noooooo, my parents are always there to remind me how much of a failure I am. No matter what I do, no matter who else is involved, it’s always_ my _fault. I can’t understand it._

 _They take every chance available to mock me for all of my short comings. To remind me that I should be grateful they even took me in considering I was an unwanted 6 year old_ demon _. The goddamned monasteries didn’t even want me. I was too difficult to deal with as a child, they said. I destroyed things and scared teachers. No one had wanted me, so I should be grateful that they even feed me._

_Yeah, as if they even do that. I do so much shit for them, but they’re not grateful at all._

_And it wasn’t just my ‘parents’ who were major problems in my life. There was also everything that has to do with school at all. School was incredibly stressful. We were treated like cattle and no one cared as long as we got good grades and didn’t make the school look bad. The teachers only liked the students they felt would go the farthest._

_I was not one of those students. I didn’t really have friends either so there wasn’t much for me socially. I was shunned by all of the A Classes because I didn’t bully those that were dumber than me. I only bullied those who hurt others, and it was mainly for the reaction they gave when he took them down with only words._

_Because that was the way Kunugikaoka worked. There wasn’t physical fighting – I had to go to the slums for that – there was only verbal fights. Verbal spars if you will. It was so satisfying to say that one thing that would hurt them the most and just watch them fall apart. It was fun even. No one in Class A liked each other, and there was only alliances. The alliances were purely strategic._

_Strength in numbers and all that. It was very cut throat and there wasn’t much that we could do otherwise. This was simply how things worked. There was no changing it. There really wasn’t a lot that I could do; with no way to beat them I had to join them. So I became_ this _and then I lost what little I had had left. Somehow I was at the bottom of the food chain while still remaining on top._

 _The only place where I didn’t feel threatened was at Purgatory. And even that was a small budding organization at this point. Things were still being worked out and there really wasn’t much left for me. I was a monster and everyone knew it. A_ demon.

_That was the name that I had been given the first time I ever through a punch during a verbal spar. They had looked at me like I was common trash; like I was beneath them. I was the Red Demon from then on. Of course that didn’t stop anyone from attacking me, they were just a little more cautious._

_But the constant turmoil and loneliness was beginning to destroy me from the inside out. I didn’t know what to do about it either. My smiles lost their sharpness, and I couldn’t fake my ‘happiness’ as well as before. I didn’t know what I could do._

_It was… was… just… bad. I really can’t describe it, but sometimes I find myself just sitting on the roof. I got my stupid little juice box and I went to the roof and sat down where I’d wallow in my own self-pity. I roughly threw the box off the roof in frustration, subconsciously rubbing my forearms. The stupid stupid teachers never took a notice to anything I did other than to scold me for existing._

_Underneath the long sleeves of my uniform coat was some white bandaging. They were hiding more of my problems. Like the fucking idiot that I was, I started to cut myself. A real stupid decision I know. But I did it anyway. It hurt a lot more than people imagine when they talk about it. The cuts always stung like an extra-large paper cut, and they remained irritated for the next week even if they were covered._

_But for the moment, when the blood just seeped lazily out of the cut, it was freeing. It was like a way of punishing myself for all of my faults. And for a while after, everything was fine and all my troubles went away. But then I was reminded of all the horrible things that had happened and would continue to happen. It was a vicious cycle._

_I… don’t know… what to do anymore._

_I exist day by day, just going through the motions and trying my best to keep going. But it’s getting tedious and I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve never really known what to do. If I really think about it, I’ve always been in a pretty bad place, but I can’t talk to anyone about it for fear of having to be put of fucking suicide watch._

_So what if I have suicidal thoughts. Everyone does at some point right?_

_It’s just… suicide doesn’t sound that bad anymore._

_I stand up and look over the edge of the building. It’s a decently far drop; about 3 stories. Someone can die from a 5 ft. fall. I’m certain it would be far enough to die. Jumping off a building really isn’t my ideal way to go, I feel like I’d prefer to overdose. But it would create a scene, and really, bad publicity is what this school needs. I try and gear myself up to jump._

_If I fall head first then I’ll most likely die on impact, right? That’s how it goes right? People can avoid death by breaking their fall with their limbs. I read that somewhere, but I really can’t be bothered to remember where. Is this… am I really doing this?_

_I lean over the edge, to get a good look at what was down there. There was a couple students eating in the courtyard about a football field away. There wasn’t anyone on the roof last I checked. I was always alone. The other students tended to stay away from the roof, it was the place for delinquent loners. All I had to do was jump right? I can do this._

_Just as I had been prepared to actually do it, someone grabbed my shoulder and in a surprising show of strength, through me away from the edge of the building. I crashed hard onto the cement floor. It took me a couple seconds to comprehend what just happened, but then I jumped up in a defensive stance, my eyes darting around to look for the attacker._

_I was surprised to find that the only other person on the roof was a rather feminine looking boy. He had long blue hair and he was looking at me in an odd combination of horror and anger. He was panting – from anger of exhaustion (it would have taken a lot of effort to pull me away, I was rather heavy) I don’t know – and all of his stuff had been dropped haphazardly on the ground in between us._

_“What… were… you thinking?!” he panted in shock. “Where you going to jump off the roof?” he demanded harshly. I stared at him with wide eyes. What. The. Fuck. Who even was this guy? I’d seen him like once before? What the hell was he doing here?_

“So what?” I’d said. That had made the boy – who I’d learned was named Nagisa – go on a long ass rant about the value of my life. That was the day that my life had really changed. He was my first real friend you know. After he stopped me from committing suicide, we began to talk to each other. Nagisa really had become a mother hen then. He refused to let me out of his sight for a while, not trusting that I wouldn’t try again. It was foolish, but I appreciated the sentiment. Now more than ever.

 

* * *

 

I woke up, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. Luckily I hadn’t screamed, or I would have woken Yukio no matter how far away my room might have been. That damn dream again. Ever since I had talked to Izumo, I’d been reliving that moment. The thing was, it shouldn’t have really been all that traumatic. But I can’t help but think what if. What if I had actually jumped? What would have happened to the world I know now? Would I have gone to Gehenna? I really don’t want to think about that. It was almost time for school. I better get ready.

 

* * *

 

It was the first cram class after we became official exwires. Joy. This was going to be fun. The month we were given off was up and things had to get back on schedule. Sure school went on through the summer, but that didn’t mean we had all the time in the world. On the contrary. Satan seemed to be stepping up his game, and moving ahead of schedule. We needed as many prepared exorcists as possible. And as Yukio’s students and my classmates, they’d be in the center of things.

If they accepted us after our demonic nature was revealed, then they’d definitely not want to miss out on the action. Especially Bon, considering the fact that his ultimate goal was to kill Satan. A rather stupid goal in the grand scheme of things, but hey, I wasn’t one to judge. I’d spent a year with my only goals being get good grades and finding a way to kill my teacher. Wow. Was my life ever normal?

But in the event that they did in fact trust us – or even if they didn’t – they’d be dragged into the fray just by being associated with us at one point. They were definitely a weakness, and Satan would be able to see through any sort of lie that I told. There was no way he _wouldn’t_ try to use them against me when the time came, and I know I’d be a lot less handicapped if I knew they were at least semi capable.

As of now, maybe they could take down some lower level demons if they worked together and got over their differences. But thing seemed to be back to before the mission and that really pissed me off. Did they learn nothing? They seemed to have completely forgotten what it was like and so, they were back to being the bratty teenagers who thought they knew what they were doing.

Bon was right back to pissing off Izumo and taunting me, claiming I didn’t have any skill and he’d obviously be the one to kill Satan now. What the fuck. Since when did he regress? He saw how I fought and he knows about a part of my history. Surely that must mean something? But in reality, it seems like they’ve all done their hardest to forget that it even happened, and acted like my only skills were cooking and making a fool out of myself.

Like damn, I knew my cover was good, but really? And Shura was just going with it, trying to trip me up at every chance available. Now her hating me I could understand. Well not really, but I’d come to expect it. It wasn’t the first time that a teacher had been out to get me. She was just the first who was so open about it. All the others found it hilarious, even Yukio! They thought it was just a joke, but I knew better.

But one thing I noticed was that none of them ever took off the charms I made them.

I found myself watching my back in almost every class. Well, except the ones that were taught by Karasuma-sensei. He was a blessing in disguise. Sure he was a hard ass, but it was so worth seeing the others struggle to complete the easiest things. Sometimes I forget how lucky I was to have learned this before, otherwise I’m sure I would have been complaining too.

As it was, I simply took pleasure in teasing Bon until he got angry and made a mistake. Karasuma-sensei did his best to turn a blind eye, but he always managed to be there for the aftermath and to scold Bon for acting rashly. It was rather amusing really. I knew that Karasuma-sensei had a sadistic streak – with the way that he taught us it really wasn’t a surprise – but this was simply hilarious. Bon turned so many different colours it was amazing.

Today was a great example of his foolhardiness. He continuously fell for every single one of my jabs and he never bothered to look underneath the underneath. “Hey Bon!” I hollered from where I sat at the top of the latest challenge, having already completed 10 reps of the exercise in the time it had taken Bon to do 4 and the others to do 3. “Gotta be faster than that if you want to beat me in killing Satan! You can’t even beat Yukio! How are you meant to kill the kind of all demons?” I taunted.

It was all motivational of course. If he was going to be even the slightest bit useful in the inevitable fight then he better find a way to become strong fast. I leave him in the fucking dust. These kids won’t last a minute on their own. We were lucky that we never really had any fights when we were in the Fabricated World.

Bon growled before upping his speed even though he was already bone tired and at his limits. I watched with little compassion. I mean, Class E was all younger than him when we could do this. They had the same level of previous training, and were actually under a time limit. We had a year to be able to kill the un-killable, and yet Bon couldn’t fucking do shit even though there was no stress?

I fingered my necklace absent mindedly as I thought more about this. Well, maybe the stress was a big factor in our success. Meh. Bon had fought for his life and he knew what was out there. His inability was kind of pathetic. “Hah… you asshole. This is pointless. This shit certainly didn’t help you stop Paku from being killed.” Bon panted as he stopped at the top of a makeshift mountain, only a couple of feet between them.

I froze. He did _not_ go there. He did _not_ just blame me for Paku’s death. I heard a thump as Izumo fell from the tree she was climbing in shock at Bon’s accusation, faintly. Wow. He really was an idiot after all. I could sense Karasuma-sensei’s worry as he stood off to the side and watched. He wouldn’t interfere unless it was necessary, although with Shura and Yukio all bets were off.

My demeanor changed becoming threatening and dangerous, and I glared harshly at him. He had no idea what he was messing with. I reached for my sword, but a sharp look from Shura made me rethink that. That’s fine, I can take him down with just my fists. “You’re going to regret saying that.” I growl as I prepare to lunge at him.

“Rin-chan~! What do you think you’re doing?” A voice said, coming from the entrance to the ‘gym’. It was sickly sweet, but very dangerous voice. He recognized it instantly and so did Karasuma-sensei. I turned to stare at her in shock, before stuttering.

“B-Bitch-sensei??”


	5. Time to Spill the Beans

Karma/Rin P.O.V

“Ahh if it isn’t my adorable little Rin-chan! It’s been so long! I’m sorry I’ve been gone on a mission, but never fear, because now I am here to help!” She said happily, walking forward and placing an arm around my slightly taller frame. Then her arm tightened and soon she had me in a head lock and was giving me a massive noogie. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING ATTACKING A CLASSMATE YOU LITTLE SHIT?!” she yelled suddenly, her entire demeanor changing to reveal the Bitch-sensei that he knew all too well. “And I told you to stop calling me that!”

Karasuma-sensei sweat-dropped before he walked forward in an attempt to calm down his girlfriend. But this only set her off even more. “Tadaomi-chan!~” she squealed happily before shoving his head into her cleavage. He froze almost comically and everyone sweat dropped. Well there goes any respect that the class had for their gym instructor.

Once she’d practically hugged the life out of her boyfriend, she snapped back into her previous state of anger. “I expect an answer Rin-chan!” she nearly screeched. I winced. Of course she would show up now. She was the female, expected to be the maternal side of things. She’d certainly helped council us a lot when we were Class E. At least they weren’t actually making us see someone from the Vatican. Or maybe she was here to be a teacher? I don’t really see that going well.

“He implied some rather... rude things about me and my er, guilt on certain matters. It was a lapse of judgment and it won’t happen again.” I said smoothly, attempting to placate her. Despite her mega bitch status, she could be very... protective of those she considered hers. All of Class E unfortunately fell under that umbrella so the second she figures out that Bon is an asshole to me, she’ll go all protective.

Never mind the fact that I had always been able to look after myself without any help. Seriously that woman. She narrowed her eyes at me for a moment and I thought that I was in the clear. Apparently not, because the very next second she turned to stare straight at Izumo. “You there, the one with the weird eyebrows!” she said sharply. Karasuma-sensei winced as he heard her insult one of the students. Great it would be just like the first week that she started teaching Class E.

Full of rude remarks and general disrespect. It didn’t help at all that the exwires just pretended to have a backbone because all of the teachers let them get away with sooo much shit. It was unbelievable. Irina Jelavich was no like that at all. She’s going to be an interesting addition to this mix we have. I wonder what she’ll teach us.

It seems that Izumo had finally mustered up the courage to speak, as she sort of squeaked out her response. “Well, Bon was being an asshole, and implied that is was all Okumura-kun’s fault that Paku - our former classmate - died on a mission that had been given by the Grigori themselves. It was our exwire exam, and deaths while rare, are things to be expected.” She said clinically.

I raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking if she was okay. She nodded minutely, although the movement had not been missed by the assassin at all. Luckily, she decided to leave it alone. “Well there’s someone who’s being truthful. Now which one of you is this ‘Bon’?” she sniffed pompously staring down at them in disgust. Bon, who apparently had no self-preservation instincts, decided it would be a good idea to arrogantly step forward.

“That’s me. I don’t see why this is such a big deal. It’s simply ribbing between classmates and it’s none of your business,” he claimed as he jutted his chin out defiantly. There was a gleam in Irina’s eyes as she stared down at the teen in front of her.

“Kids these days just have no respect, eh Tadaomi-chan?” she inquired as she looked at her boyfriend. Then she turned back to Bon and smirked at him. “Well it actually is my business, brat. You see, Rin-chan and I go way back, so his business is my business, and you just insulted not only my favourite out of all of you right now, but me. I’m not someone you want to trifle with.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and smiled a smile full of teeth.

“I’m your new teacher! Teaching everything from English relations, to espionage, to how to take a kill shot when it’s needed. Okay with that brats?” she asked condescendingly. Bon actually audibly gulped. It took so much willpower to not burst out laughing at the sight. But of course that was when Shura decided to appear out of nowhere.

I must be out of practice, I didn’t sense her at all.

“And what give you that jurisdiction?” she asked in a lilting tone, trying a little too hard to actually seem like her drunk self. The only mistake being the absence of her usually accent. This time it was me who spoke up.

“Well Shura-san, she’s a trained assassin that worked with the Japanese government a couple months ago. She has ties with the Vatican and is very reputable. Mephisto obviously hired her for a reason.” Well other than to help control me that is. That demon was someone that all sides had to watch their backs around.

Bitch-sensei smiled charmingly at me. “Yep! I’ll be accompanying all of you on your training camp which is, guess what, scheduled for next week. So you’ll get a grand total of 4 classes with me before we’re off on our merry way. It’ll be exciting!” she said happily. Taking a quick look around at all the others in the ‘gym’ it was easy to see how not excited everyone else was. I grinned. It will certainly be an interesting 4 days. Although I dreaded what this training camp will bring.

 

* * *

 

“Okay! So today I’m going to give you a lecture on the importance of a kill shot. I understand that we have many people who are gonna be absolutely useless in an actual fight to the death, so that makes knowing how to give a kill shot even more important.” Bitch-sensei began as she paced along the front of the room. This statement seemed to greatly offend the Kyoto Trio – Bon in particular – and they made that clear with noises of protest.

Irina of course, completely bulldozed over them without a care. “So who – besides Rin – can tell me about kill shots?” she asked. I grumbled and sunk into my seat playfully. Of course she’d chose to halfway break my cover. It wasn’t like I was playing down my skills at all, but her blatantly revealing the fact that I know a lot about killing wasn’t exactly the greatest impression.

Not only did they find out that I’d been keeping a pretty big secret about my childhood, but apparently I had connections with an assassin. Totally innocent looking of course.

“Isn’t it just a shot that is a one shot kill?” Shima offered hesitantly when no one else decided to speak up. I repressed a smirk when Irina’s eyes went skyward and she mumbled something that sounded vaguely like ‘lord help me with these stupid children who we’re giving weapons to’. It was amusing.

“Well,” she said stiffly, “you’re not wrong.” She moved towards the chalk board and began to draw a surprisingly accurate human target diagram before highlighting key points on the human body. “Now the chest area and the head are the areas that people typically go for with humans. So these are the parts that you’re going to want to protect and not let those pesky demons get to close to. You can live after losing a limb, but if you’re clawed through the heart or accidentally shot through the head you’re toast.” She lectured, surprisingly serious for once.

Then she began drawing a standard demon diagram. “But on demons their weak spots are just a bit different than ours. Can someone else tell me where those spots are?” she asked sweetly. Izumo reluctantly raised her hand before leveling a glare at Irina.

“Well the tail is the ultimate weak point. Some of the lower level demons have fatal verses that will banish them back to Gehenna. Other than that, if you cut ‘em in half or decapitate them it’s a pretty safe assumption that they’re dead.” She snarked. While Irina looked like she really didn’t appreciate the sass, she at least approved of the intelligent response.

“Yes, so all of those who have weapons, when you’re going up against demons it’s a pretty safe strategy to go for the tail. And when you’re fighting a demon, never hold back no matter how pathetic the demon might appear. I’m not saying use your strongest attack, but always go in with the intent to kill.” She said before passing around easily concealable daggers and small handguns for everyone. I dumped my katana on the desk and pulled out one of my personal guns, sending her an unimpressed challenging look.

She rolled her eyes at me but didn’t give me the standard issue crap she was handing everyone else. She knew full well that I was far more armed than what I was showing. After everyone had two weapons (even the Arias who weren’t even supposed to be handling weapons in the first place) she gave everyone a small magazine of bullets. “Now these contain certain herbs that are incredibly harmful to demons. Think of it like wolfs bane for werewolves.”

“Now I know I’m not technically supposed to be doing this; since Shura’s your actual weapons instructor. However, I know for a fact that she hasn’t even begun teaching you kids how to defend yourselves properly. It doesn’t matter what meister you’re aiming for. You can chant all you want, but if you don’t know the fatal verse you’re a liability.”

Konekomaru looked intensely uncomfortable as he gingerly picked up the gun in front of him with two fingers. “Do we really have to kill them?” he asked shyly. Irina leveled him with an incredulous look.

“Is this kid for real?” she asked the room. “Kid, you’re like what? 12? What are you even doing here if you aren’t willing to kill? What did you think this gig would turn out to be? At the end of the day, you’re like cops, and guess what. Cops carry guns, and sometimes cops have to kill.” She sneered at him. I could tell that she thought he wasn’t going to last long.

But I had my doubts.

He was part of the Kyoto Trio after all. He had a pretty valid reason to be here in the first place. It’s just a pity that his will wasn’t exactly the strongest. He was just a bit too cowardly. On the Brightside, he wasn’t bloodthirsty so there’s that.

The next couple of days were just dedicated to making sure we knew how to use our weapons effectively in the worst case scenario. Bitch-sensei even had me help teach them which was worrying. I was beginning to really dread this training camp.

 

* * *

 

It turns out the training camp wasn’t the most glorious thing. Then again, it was organized by Mephisto, so I really shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that it was far from useful. Apparently it was just a survival training camp to see if we could survive by ourselves out in the woods, however, Karasuma and Bitch-sensei’s looks of worry made me worried.

And when I confronted them, the information that they gave me didn’t make me feel any better. “Pheles is planning something, but Shura and Yukio are still out of the loop. I don’t really like the possibilities on why he told us, but it can’t be good. He knew we would go to you.” Karasuma started ominously.

“There’s going to be a demon king attacking your camp. I don’t know when or how it’s going to happen, but there will be a serious threat that only you will be able to handle.” Irina had said. Unfortunately that had been all they’d been able to tell me. Admittedly it was better than nothing, and it did indeed reveal a lot about Mephisto’s plan.

He wanted my demonic status revealed.

I don’t know why though. His motives were always incredibly unclear. Human, well humans were easy to read. Their emotions were explainable and had logic. But demons, they did things without rhyme or reason. It was near impossible to guess what would happen next.

Probably why people find me so hard to read. As Nagisa would say, I got the best of both worlds.

But worrying causes you to suffer twice, so I’ll just have to be prepared for an attack. There was nothing I could do to stop them from finding out about my powers. However, I could hope that they accept me, even if we’re not necessarily friends. Although… the odds were not in my favour. But I had the training camp to worry about. The exwires had put me on food duty – Izumo with gusto while the others were a lot more hesitant; not knowing that fact that I could cook.

“Why are we letting Okumura cook for us again?” Complained none other than Bon (seriously he’s becoming a major annoyance and I don’t know what to do about him because his skull is too thick to actually comprehend reason) as he was trying to set up one of the many tents. “What if he poisons us or something?” I had of course, already set up my tent and had moved on to preparing the food while the Kyoto Trio and the others were still stuck putting up one tent.

It was almost amusing. Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei had already set up their tent as well and were now sitting in front of it and supervising. Karasuma-sensei was reading and writing reports, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes as they flickered up to watch the incompetent teens. If I hadn’t had my experiences, I suspect I might have been in the same position, however I am more than prepared to handle a silly camping trip.

It’s not even in that bad of a camping place. Sure there’s coal tars hanging around the edge of the clearing which clearly indicates that there’s demons in the woods, but that’s a concern for later. They’re most likely all low level anyways. The only thing that stopped me from letting go (somewhat anyways) and having a good time while attempting to bond with my fellow classmates was the fact that I was waiting for an attack at any moment.

That certainly put a damper on things.

But I still managed to have a couple meaningful conversations, mostly with Izumo and Shiemi, but that was fine. Shima whined about me ‘getting all the girls’ and I simply pointed out that he’d met my boyfriend. Honestly that imbecile. He’d turned a rather bright shade of red after that comment. Speaking of Garry, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him last.

We hadn’t been on an official date yet. Have to schedule that.

But yeah, things were going pretty well, and of course it was on the last day when shit hit the fan. It was the evening and we had just finished having our dinner, so we were cleaning up in preparation to leave the camp site the next morning. My guard had been down for only 5 minutes when it happened. Shiemi (of fucking course it was Shiemi) had been kidnapped and everyone was panicking.

Shura saw fit to blame me – and like… she isn’t wrong… but still – and instead of being productive she chose to glare at me. At least Bon was helping us scour the campsite and the surrounding woods. Of course this was Mephisto’s challenge. He just couldn’t leave others out of it could he. In the midst of our frantic searching there was suddenly a monotone inquiry.

“Now I wonder why they’re all rushing around like little ants. Do you know why, pet?”

It broke through the clamor and all of our attention was brought to a single tree at the edge of the clearing. In one of the lower branches sat two people. One was clearly Shiemi, although she didn’t exactly look the greatest. She was very vacant and her eyes stared at nothing; complacent. She didn’t react to anything around her. It was certainly unsettling.

But she wasn’t exactly my main focus. No, it was the person that she was sitting on. He wasn’t very tall, maybe Nagisa’s height. His clothes were odd, almost like an earthy toned distressed version of Mephisto’s own get up. The demon’s hair was equally as striking, it being a mix of bright and dull greens that came to a large point on the top of his head.

This must be Amaimon the demon king of earth. Fan-fucking-tastic.

His face was blank and the bags under his eyes created a rather sinister yet bored appearance. “Oh. They’ve stopped now. Have to deliver the speech that brother told me to.” He said to Shiemi, not caring at all that we could hear exactly what he was saying. I growled under my breath at the callous way he was treating this situation. He turned to face us, his facial expression not changing once during his entire spiel.

“If you want the girl back unharmed, then Rin Okumura must agree to fight me.” He said in a bored tone. He didn’t want to be here at all, but Mephisto was forcing him to be. How interesting. I scowled up at him and began to walk forward when Shura yanked me back harshly.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she growled at me. I shook her off. Now wasn’t the time for her interference. Shiemi was an innocent, she shouldn’t even be involved. But of course, Mephisto had to go and fuck everything up. Like he always does. Fucking demons. “That’s a demon king, Rin. You don’t stand a chance no matter how skilled you think you are.”

I ignored her completely and walked until I came to a stop in front of the humanoid demon. “Give her to Yukio. I know you know who he is. Once that’s done, I’ll fight you.” I said in an even tone, not letting any of my anger show. To an emotionless demon like this, emotions were considered a weakness; something that he could easily exploit.

He seemed to consider me for a moment before nodding and tossing Shiemi over to Yukio who – thank whatever – managed to catch her. I distantly heard the others rush over to make sure that she was okay. But I ignored it in favour of sizing up my opponent. Instead of allowing him the first move, I just launched myself at him. I’d always been better at a more direct approach unlike Nagisa. Nagisa had always been a good fighter, but he was better suited to be an assassin.

No matter how much I enjoyed a good hunt, hand to hand combat would always be a favourite. Deep down I’m a street fighter. Nothing like pure instinct and bloody knuckles. I didn’t reveal my powers yet, if there was an off chance that I could beat Mephisto at his own game then I’d sure as hell take it. I’d go as far as I could before I would allow myself to use the flames.

Once the flames were out it would be game over.

For a while it was a simple game out cat and mouse, both of us exchanging roles frequently as we tried to get the upper hand on the other. As the fight drew on and he didn’t draw blood on me, he got more and more frustrated. “Brother told me to get you to show your powers.” He stated seriously. I growled, allowing my fangs to glint in the moonlight. If I was going to be honest here, I’d already been using some of my demonic powers.

Not necessarily the flames. That was too obvious. No, I was using the enhanced strength and senses to my advantage. I was fighting a demon kind that had killed thousands. There was a reason that no one had bested him yet. If I underestimated him, it could cost me my life. I then made a massive mistake; I allowed my eyes to flicker over to where the others were currently huddled around the unconscious Shiemi.

Amaimon’s eyes flickered with some unknown emotion before he was suddenly lunging towards the group of teens that we had been previously avoiding, no thanks to him. My eyes flashed blue. Not today. Fuck it. I raced forward, desperate to stop him from reaching them, and I skidded to a stop only 3 feet ahead of them, my katana unsheathed catching his own blade before it could hit anyone.

Unfortunately, in my haste to make it to them in time, I had lost control for a split second, and now I was covered in Satan’s blue flames in front of everyone.

Shit.


	6. The Beans Have Been Spilt

Karma/Rin P.O.V

After that the battle really didn’t take that much longer. I was simply so enraged that the rest of the battle was a blur. Fuck. I knew that my demonic side would probably be revealed but when it actually happened I just got so angry. Telling them was supposed to be my choice, but as always Mephisto fucking Pheles got in the goddamned way and wrecked everything. So I took out my frustration on Amaimon and he was subdued in a matter of minutes. After that first brief lapse of control, nothing of the sort happened again.

I wrangled the flames to efficiently take Amaimon out just like I’d trained to do. But that really didn’t mean much. Amaimon lay unconscious on the ground, tied up and being watched carefully by Karasuma and Irina. I sheathed the katana and dismissed my flames, my back still to Shura, my brother and the exwires. I took a deep breath, it was now or never. But that didn’t prepare me at all for the looks I got as soon as I turned around.

They sat huddled together in a protective circle with Shura and Yukio at the front. Both of them had their weapons out and pointed at me. That’s right. The ever perfect protective younger brother Yukio was glaring at me as he levelled his twin guns at me. What the hell? Just last week he was all paranoid and in over-protective mode?? Like he wouldn’t let me do anything? And he wanted to be Mr. Responsible, or whatever.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What the fuck, Yukio?” I demanded harshly, beginning to approach the group. I was confident in my skills, but could I really dodge before he could shoot me in the head? I had seen Yukio at the shooting range with Father Fujimoto, so I knew he was a good shot. I was confident in his skills and speed, what I wasn’t confident in was that he wouldn’t shoot me. Yukio had proven to be a bit of a bitch in the past.

It’s not like I grew up with him. He really has no reason to trust me and for all he knows I’m not even his real brother. I could be a spy or something. (And while that would technically true, that’s not the point) And he already knows I’m keeping secrets. I was never the best at hiding who I am, and really, my past just seemed to be popping up against my will. I never thought I’d have to face Mary or the Fabricated World ever again, but you know. And my connection to Karasuma was suspicious.

He was suspicious enough as it is, but the fact that I had been hiding things (such as battle proficiency and a cold, calculating, and brutal side) wasn’t earning me any trust points. If I had been able to hide all of this in the past, then what else was I hiding?

I was untrustworthy because of my ruthless nature that I let slip like an idiot. But I’d like to see you act all happy and carefree all the time. It’s exhausting.

Bon glared at me. “You’re a demon.” He accused harshly. “You use Satan’s flames.” He continued. I raised an eyebrow then rolled my eyes.

“Yeah? So what? As you have seen just five minutes ago, I’m in complete control of my powers.” I ask. Are they really going to pull an ignorant exorcist act on me? Really. We stare silently at each other for a few moments

“You’re just a stupid demon! No better than any of the other scum that we are trained to kill. What the hell are you even doing here? You’re just like Satan!” Konekomaru – who’d have thought he’d have the courage to do that, right – screamed angrily. Now they were starting to annoy me with their ignorance and blatant racism.

Then Yukio decided this was a good time to make things about him. “You tricked us! You’ve been lying to me all this time. You could kill us at any moment and we wouldn’t be able to stop you! Was that whole thing with that other world a lie?” Yukio demanded, looking incredibly flustered and angry. Shura just stared at me calculatingly. Oh how her holier than thou attitude pisses me off. I scoff angrily, letting my temper get the best of me and begin to rant.

“I've had oh so many chances to slaughter you all without even having to resort to my powers. You humans make it so terribly easy after all. And it's not like I'm Satan himself. Just his son. Are you really going to hate me for being his son when I can't even control that?” I begin angrily, looking each of them in the eye as I make my speech.

“If you're going to hate me, it should be for things _I've_ actually done. Not some actions of a man I've never even met. And that's obviously not hypocritical at all! I have many reasons to hate all of you for the people you're affiliated with, as well as your own actions. But have I ever made it clear I disliked any of you? The answer is I haven't.” Well maybe I’ve been a little bit rude but I never treated anyone badly. I just fought back. You can’t blame me for that. I take a deep breath before continuing.

“Now you can be all self-righteous and everything, but can you at least use your brains? You act like I'm suddenly a spy sent by Satan to destroy you, but honey if I was, I certainly wouldn't go after you guys. It would be so much easier to just infiltrate the higher ups and tear everything apart from up there.” I let my gaze sweep over the exwires once more, disappointed to see that Izumo was simply staring at her feet, unmoving.

“I've had so many chances to leave you all for dead and just claim it was an accident. I have a lot of power at my fingertips, I could make all of you disappear and all anyone would ever think is how unfortunate that accident happened or wonder where you'd gone. You have absolutely no idea what I'm capable of, and you chose to make an enemy of me? How smart indeed.” I know I’m revealing more than I should but at this point I really don’t care. No matter what I say, they’re going to hate me. Might as well try to make this easier on myself by proving they shouldn’t mess with me; or at least discouraging them.

Karasuma and Irina have both moved away from the others and are standing more on my side of the field, silently siding with me and sending a message to Shura. If they mess with me, I’ll have allies. “And if you're angry because I didn't tell you, than you can ask yourself if you ever gave me a reason to tell you. Really, why would I tell you? You all hate demons with a passion, and your reactions right now are telling me I did the smart thing in not telling you. You can't honestly say you wouldn't react like this if you'd found out earlier.”

“I applaud you, silly humans.” I grin, laughing almost hysterically. “Always acting before you think. Pity, you could have been so useful... I'll be civil in class if you extend the same favor, but if you aren't... then I will simply mirror your actions. You'll realize rather quickly that the actions you believe demons deserve are not in any way pleasant to experience.” I sneer at them before jerking my head at Karasuma and Irina. They nod and we grab our packs (that my two teachers had been smart enough to pack ahead of time) and then we leave the forest.

Leave the stunned exwires and exorcists alone in the woods to stew with all of the information that I’d given them.

 

* * *

 

If I’m going to be honest here, the rest of the week was rather underwhelming. Sure we had this training camp or whatever, but after Amaimon attacked, it had been called off. And while the trip itself ended early, we were still signed out of regular classes. However, I really didn’t want to just sit in the dorm room or see any of the exorcists – I figure that I can give them some time to come to terms with things and decide their next move – so I decide that I should just not go to the dorm for the next couple of days. I spent my time hanging out at Purgatory and basically chilling with Garry. We even went on an actual date!

So I was in a reasonably good mood when I got back to classes. The first half of the day was normal. But then I started having classes with some of the other exwires (not many because I was taking advanced classes due to the fact that I went to Kunugikaoka; but enough that I had at least a class with all of them) and that was when shit started to get weird. Well… I guess weird isn’t the greatest description.

They glared venomously at me throughout the entire class, not even bothering to take notes between disgusted glared. It was almost amusing really. They weren’t even trying to be subtle. And everyone else was beginning to notice. The students in my other classes were sending me weird and curious looks. Like I’ve said before, the cram school was a pretty selective course, so everyone who was in it was well known by the student body.

We weren’t necessarily popular, however people knew all about us. The rumor mill here was very impressive. So it was no surprise that the sudden hatred I was receiving from the other cram students was beginning to draw attention. Speculation was abundant, and I was suddenly reminded of what is was like when I was in Class A. thank god I was sent to Class E.

I’m an asshole now, imagine what I’d be like if I was around Asano all the time. Jesus. Really dodged a bullet there.

It was lunchtime when the first person approached me. It was Yukimura Fuka; a shy girl from my math class. She was smart and quiet, so it was a bit surprising that it was her that approached me. I had just pulled out my bento when she shyly walked up. She looked at her feet and blushed slightly. She clutched her hands tightly and began to speak softly.

“Excuse me, Okumura-san?” she said nervously. I smiled at her in what I hoped didn’t look like a stiff smile.

“Call me Rin,” I said reassuringly. “Now what do you need?”

She smiled, “well, my friends were just wondering what happened to cause the uh, other cram students to… er, hate you?” she asked uncertainly. I glanced out of the corner of my eye the group of girls standing about 20ft away and whispering while watching us. I smiled softly and leaned forward slightly. They started this whole mess after all. I’ll even tell as much of the truth as I can. It’ll just make then look worse.

“Well some things about my past was revealed over the course of last week. As you’ve probably heard by now, Yukio and I are twins and we were adopted separately. Father Fujimoto had chosen Yukio and another family chose me. We hadn’t met until this summer, so we don’t really know each other all that well.” I began, slowly, figuring out which information would get me the most support.

“My foster parents were murdered so I got sent to live with Yukio. Well, they found out who my foster parents were, and that I was gay. They didn’t exactly have the greatest reaction in the world you know?” I said, allowing my voice to crack a bit at the end.

She looked sad before looking me in the eye for the first time during my entire monologue. “I’m so sorry about them.” She said with a sympathetic smile. “I hope it gets better.” Then she walked back to her group of friends and I went back to eating my lunch in silence. Of course, this conversation just happened to happen in the middle of the fucking courtyard so literally everyone in our year (and some not) heard that exchange.

Or at least would soon considering the fact that I’m 90% sure that Yukimura’s friends were the queens of the gossip mill. And that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It sucks ass because now everyone will pity him, howEVER! This gains me sympathy points because I’ve implies that the rest of the cram students (including my brother) are all racist (possible reason why they’d have a problem with my former foster family), homophobic and judgmental. Basically there’s no way for any of the students to think that they were in the right.

Well unless they are just as much of a sack of dicks as the others. That’s a whole other problem though, so I’m not going to worry about that. Now it’s time to just sit back and enjoy the show.

 

* * *

 

By the next day, everyone in the school had heard about what happened to me. Or at least, the story about what happened to me.

Thank god the other exwires seem to have an unhealthy hatred for the rest of the student body and they didn’t answer any of the questions that the normal students ask. They allowed me to completely control all of the information that they received. So… no matter what they say now, they’ll believe that it’s just a lie.

Winning.

Anyways, they were getting dirty looks and everyone was steering clear of the exwires and Yukio all because I decided on a whim to reveal part of my story. This worked a lot better than I ever thought it would. On the other hand, it may have worked a little too well, considering all of the exwires were now openly insulting me. But I could handle it.

They were pansies compared to Class A. And wasn’t that just sad?

It wasn’t like any of their parents could ruin my life later. I’d done my research. None of them were the type to go running to ‘daddy’ and tattling, and none of their parents were important enough to care really.

Father Fujimoto could probably kick up some amount of a fuss. But Karasuma was high enough in the government that he’d be able to get me out of it. It didn’t hurt that I was of equal rank to Father Fujimoto and the Vatican already knew of my parentage. My reputation as the reaper was really the thing that causes them to accept me.

At the end of the day I’m a valuable ally.

The point is, that everyone was on my side, but that didn’t stop the exwires from glaring at me. It definitely didn’t help that we still had cram school to worry about and the fact that Karasuma and Irina were clearly on my side.

They basically let me do whatever the hell I want during class as long as I was keeping up my skills, and it greatly pissed off the others. They knew that I already had all the knowledge I needed to have on demons and on my powers, and they had already taught me what they were currently teaching the others a year ago. I had already gone through the lesson and was highly proficient in things.

Whenever the others would start whining too much Karasuma and Irina would just have me help with a demonstration. I mean, it shut them up real quick to see that I was on the same level of skill as the teachers.

But cram school sucked ass anyways. At least normal school was nice. The teachers knew their shit and the classes actually weren’t boring for once. I thought for sure after Korosensei I’d never be able to take school seriously again. But this new environment was actually great.

Because I was part of the group you could call ‘enriched’ there was just a higher level of thinking almost. I have my mandatory academic classes sure, but the people that chose enriched want to learn, so it’s a much more productive environment. Not a bunch of teens hating learning and the topics so they purposefully drag everyone else down. I call that a dick move. If you hate school that’s fine, just don’t wreck it for everyone else.

My next memorable encounter was once more during lunch – and wasn’t that becoming a pattern. Shindou and Sugino were walking hand in hand towards me, which really wasn’t all that weird. Sugino hadn’t been at Purgatory when I’d gone to complain last week, but he was bound to hear it from one of the others. And Sugino and Shindou were really close despite the fact that Shindou still had no idea about Korosensei.

Sugino smiled brightly at me as he sat down and immediately began unpacking his lunch. Shindou was a bit more awkward considering the fact that we weren’t really friends. I still sort of resented him for how he treated Sugino during the baseball tournament. But that last game really helped with that. Also the fact that he was dating Sugino so I had to play nice.

At one point we’ll have to get him involved with the Tricksters. Well at least if he continued whatever it was he had with Sugino.

He smiled sheepishly at me before sitting beside Sugino and attempting to steal some of his food. “Hey, I’m really sorry to hear about what happened with your friends.”

I sneered at him but took his attempt at a conversation/apology as the olive branch that it was. “Yeah, we weren’t really friends in the first place. They’re kinda like Asano, you know?” I responded, digging into my lunch with gusto. He nodded knowingly and ate his lunch in silence. Sugino began to keep up a quiet one-sided conversation about something or another, and all in all, the atmosphere was peaceful for the first time in a while.

It was nice to have friends like this.

 


	7. Calling in Father Fujimoto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone else's pov? father fujimoto? gasp***

Karma/Rin P.O.V

For a while I thought that things would remain the same. Everyone in the class hated me for something I couldn’t control and I was pretty much alone considering the fact that I’d left Garry to manage the gang so that Kyoya could focus a bit more on his host club and his own school work. I really didn’t have that strong of a connection with the other exwires so it was no surprise that they didn’t even make an effort to try and understand my situation.

It’s not like my attitude on the matter was much help either. In hindsight, reverting back to my old ways after them discovering I’d kept a major secret from them might not have been the greatest idea in the world. In fact it was rather stupid. All of Class E had hated me for a while when they first met me. And for good reason too! I was a complete and utter asshole.

I am a complete and utter asshole.

But you know what? I’m okay with that fact. Class E eventually got used to me and now they think that my Rin persona is actually quite freaky. They were so used to me being me that if I acted any different it’d seem odd. And they accept me for the sadistic crime lord that I am and that means a lot to me considering the fact that not many people do.

Yukio certainly didn’t.

Now that’s its own can of worms entirely. You’d think that Yukio would stick by me considering we were twin brothers even if he had only met me recently. We were family and family was important even if you aren’t related by blood. But this pretentious asshole, has apparently decided that he’d never like me and he favours the favour of these pathetic wet behind the ears exorcists despite the fact that I can’t control who my father is.

Satan is his father too, and yet everyone treats him like he’s completely normal. He has demon blood flowing through his veins just like I do. The only difference is that his powers had never manifested because I was the stronger twin when we were in the womb. Utterly ridiculous. He acted like he was so much better than me even though he was at the same level. So what if I’m an asshole! At least I’m honest about it! A lot of people aren’t and quite frankly he should be grateful.

It’s not like they know the whole truth either. They only know that I’m not actually happy go lucky and am actually quite sadistic, and that my father is Satan and I’ve inherited his flames. Big deal. They’re powers, they’re simply an advantage. Think of all the high level demons we’d be able to get under control and all the people we could save because I’d gained control over my powers! It’s utterly ridiculous that they couldn’t look past an act that I didn’t even do, and see that it was pointless to worry over.

Sure my personality is shit, but did they really believe anyone could actually be like Rin and still be smart enough to do what I can? Terasaka has his own kind of brains, but that unconditional kindness really didn’t pair up with any of the other tidbits that I’d shown them that they’d conveniently forgotten. They act like I’m suddenly a horrendous creature that’s going to murder them all in their sleep because suddenly they knew.

Honey if I wanted them dead they would have been a long time ago. Do they even realize that I wouldn’t even need to use anything demonic to get rid of them? Of course not, they have no idea about my past or anything other. Completely ridiculous the lot of them. Teenagers. They never look underneath the underneath. They need to watch Naruto.

Don’t get off topic. Bad Karma. Bad.

Isn’t it sad that my life literally consists of bad karma? The irony is not lost on me.

What was I going on about? Oh yeah, how I’m so alone because everyone hates me. You know, just the typical teenage bullying situation. No biggy. Just another thing or the school system to ignore like always. It wasn’t like they were subtle either. Shura had hated me since day one, and Yukio had betrayed me. The only teacher in cram school that still liked me was Karasuma, and that was because he’d gotten to know me long before demons even got involved.

He was a good guy, I’d have to give him some vacation time with Bitch-sensei sometime soon. He deserved it for all the shit he had to put up with.

Fortunately for me, I wasn’t completely alone. I know I said that I was alone at cram school, but I still had two friends in the normal school. While the harassment from the Kyoto Trio continued into normal school, the other students were beginning to notice. They knew that we were essentially the elites of the school considering we were part of a special program, but they tended to stay away from us.

Despite being the elites we were the weird students that didn’t really fit in. But the Kyoto Trio weren’t exactly subtle with their harassment. Fortunately the normal students decided to ignore it, but they still tended to shoot the trio dirty looks when they blatantly insulted me. I was in their good graces as well as I could be without knowing them personally, and Bon was seen as a delinquent and a distraction no matter how smart he was. I was just the kind student who made amazing food and had very few friends.

Without the context it was a very easy decision for the student body to take my side even if they didn’t actually do much about it. It was still nice to know that they didn’t support the Kyoto Trio. I have feelings too!

But Shindou and Sugino stuck by me. It was really nice to be able to just escape and complain about the Trio and their irrational hate of me – since Shindou didn’t really know about either of my secrets I had to remain really vague but he didn’t seem all that bothered by the lack of trust. He just went with the flow which was very nice – without having to be judged. Instead they’d judge the Kyoto Trio with me. Hating on other people with friends was fun.

It was about 3 weeks after the big reveal when one of my encounters with a cram school student hadn’t ended in disaster. I was eating lunch with Sugino and Shindou as usual when Izumo had approached me. She had pretty much steered clear of me ever since they all found out about my… racial difference.

(And what was that about anyway? Did they not realize how racist they were? Just because I was part demon doesn’t mean that I’m automatically evil! And I thought today’s society was getting better with the whole race thing. I suppose not. What can you do?)

At least she hadn’t joined in on the jeering that the Kyoto Trio insisted on, but at the same time, she never stood by me. But it was more than Yukio did, so small mercies. I have to admit that I had been really disappointed (?) by the fact that she hadn’t shown any emotion towards me. I had thought that we had really bonded on that one time shortly after Paku’s death. She’d learned things about me that very few knew, even if she never got the full story. It was still more than anyone here save Sugino knew about me.

She looked uncertain and nervous, crossing her arms over her chest in a very defensive manner. Her eyes never left the floor. “I’m sorry!” she blurted out suddenly, staring at her hands. I raised an eyebrow before glancing at Sugino and Shindou. Shindou shrugged and went back to eating his lunch without a care. This wasn’t his problem. I sweat dropped. Really??? Thanks for the backup, sport.

I judged her with my fiery red eyebrows. Was that all she was going to say? She looked down to the side, avoiding my gaze. “I know I shouldn’t have abandoned you, but you were so different how could I be expected to know that you weren’t just playing me!” she accused angrily. Oh wow. So this was going to be how she played it. Also, like not what I meant. Like, at all. “My friend had just been murdered and everyone was blaming you and you were actually nice to me and that was so different.” She continued.

“Then it was revealed that you were a demon and you suddenly shed your bright, happy and argumentative personality to reveal a cruel trickster-like persona that we’d always been taught to fear. You were trouble from day one and nothing you did made any sense! I needed time to puzzle out my feelings and make sure I was allying myself with the right side.” She angrily brushed tears from her eyes as she breathed heavily due to the emotions that were passing through her.

“I know I’m asking a lot of you, and you have no obligations to forgive me, but I’m really sorry about how I acted these past few weeks. I haven’t been in the best place, and that’s no excuse for how I treated you. But, will you accept my offer of friendship?” she clenched her skirt tightly in her fingers, ducking her head and shutting her eyes tight as she nervously awaited my response.

I admit that I felt rather betrayed by the fact that in my time of need she hadn’t defended me, but I realize she didn’t exactly choose the other side either. She just avoided me – and everyone really – for a couple of days. I stood up abruptly, making her flinch. I walked towards her and placed my hand on her head. I ruffled her hair and smiled softly. “I appreciate your apology and while I can’t quite forgive you yet, I understand why. I appreciate that you took the time to think things over and that you didn’t join in with the Kyoto Trio. They’re a real pain in the ass, and now I know for sure that you won’t betray me when you second guess yourself. That means a lot.” I said gently.

She looked up at me through her lashes before hugging me briefly and then following up the kind gesture with a punch to the shoulder. “Don’t ever tell anyone I cried! That goes for you two assholes as well!” she growled, directing the second statement at Shindou and Sugino. Sugino just shrugged and Shindou continued eating his lunch like none of this happened. I’m actually really glad that Shindou decided to try and strike up a friendship now. I thought he’d be an asshole, but he’s okay. I can see why Sugino would pick him now. Maybe Sugino wasn’t so out of Shindou’s league after all.

Izumo promptly walked forward out of my grip and sat down next to the seat I’d just vacated. “Well? Aren’t we eating lunch?” she challenged as she began to steal some of my food without a care in the world. I smiled softly before going over to join her. “Have you heard that new musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’?” she asked as a conversation starter.

“All the music sounds the same.” I said while rolling my eyes, letting her drag me into a conversation. I’m glad she finally turned around…

And I knew she was a secret musical theatre geek. Only Izumo would want to start a conversation about a musical in a completely different language.

 

* * *

 

Yukio P.O.V.

Okay, I had to admit that I felt a little bit guilty. Sure Rin was half demon, but technically so was I. Well, it really wasn’t the same thing because I don’t have or use Satan’s flames. That’s taking things too far. Then Rin proceeds to _act_ like it was _we_ were in the wrong. He’s a _demon_. That’s not on us. Then he continues to pick fights with Bon, Shima and Konekomaru. He didn’t need to do that.

He knew about what his father had done to their families, why would he provoke them like he did? It made no sense. But, he was still my brother. Even if he was being a major jerk about this kind of thing. I should probably try to help in some way, but I’m a teacher and I have a responsibility to my students. I can’t let my personal feelings get in the way of my duties. I’d call Father Fujimoto. Maybe he’d know what to do about Rin.

I decided to make the call during Shura’s class. Rin had taken to skipping her class unless it was test days (how he found out which days those were was still a mystery) and instead hanging out with either Jelavich-sensei or Karasuma-sensei. He wouldn’t be anywhere near my classroom. I quickly dialed the church number and waited anxiously for someone to pick up.

 _“Hello? This is Father Fujimoto, what can I help you with?”_ a fatherly voice said as soon as the receiver was picked up. I smiled.

“Hey, dad! It’s Yukio.” I said with false cheer. I could hear him fumbling with the phone before he spoke once more.

_“Yukio! How’s school been?”_

I sighed. How was I meant to bring this up? “Well, I’m sure you heard about the exwire exams. That was a complete and utter disaster.” I said somberly as I rubbed my forehead. That had been a headache and a half. It certainly revealed a lot about Rin than I ever thought would come to light. That wasn’t even scratching the surface either really. “One of the students were killed and it turns out that Rin’s been keeping secrets.” Father Fujimoto hummed, urging me to continue.

“But then the training camp we had went haywire. Somehow Amaimon got wind of it and attacked camp while Shura and the two new teachers were there. Rin ended up revealing himself.” Father Fujimoto grumbled a bit from the other end of the line.

_“His cover’s been blown, you say? Does Mephisto know? Although I sense that there’s more to this than what you’re saying.”_

I grimaced. I really didn’t want to go into this over the phone, but Father Fujimoto was never one to just drop it until he got all of the facts right then and there. Nothing could wait until a later date once he sniffed out the fact that there was information in the first place. “No.” I admitted, letting a breath blow out between my pursed lips. I felt kind of guilty bringing this up with the old Paladin and our legal guardian – it was almost like tattling – but Rin was acting weird and we needed to get a handle on this asap.

“We have a slight problem. You see, we happen to have some orphans from the Blue Night. They didn’t exactly react well to discovering that Rin had Satan’s flames. And it wasn’t like Rin was helping any either. He decided to act like a complete jerk – almost like Shiratori Reiji dad, if I didn’t know better (and I don’t even know that anymore because of all the truths that keep surfacing) I’d guess that he was some juvenile delinquent. He acts nothing like how he did over the summer. It’s a complete 180! He’s been using his flames a lot more too. I’m really worried and I don’t know what to do.” He confessed.

“Could you maybe come teach a class or two to see if you can do something about Rin?”

 _“I’ll see what I can do, son. But I can’t guarantee anything. The monastery should be able to handle things without me for a couple hours a day.”_ I smiled in relief at hearing that I wouldn’t be the only one responsible for dealing with my brother. He was a handful before he was revealed. Now he was infinitely worse with his chilling attitude and not even bothering to try and hide his intelligence that came with a hefty superiority complex.

 

* * *

 

Father works fast, so it was no surprise to see him waiting in the cram class room the very next day. A hush had fallen over the classroom when I had walked in. The Kyoto Trio were staring at Father Fujimoto with obvious hero worship and it was hard to suppress a smile at their faces. Shiemi sat in her seat patiently waiting for class to start, although she looked somewhat awkward sitting alone at the front since Paku and Izumo weren’t there with her. And neither was Rin. Shura was leaning against the wall and drinking her beer without a care in the world; typical Shura. And finally, the two mysterious government/Vatican workers were talking quietly at the back of the classroom while glancing between Rin and Father Fujimoto every couple of seconds.

The woman – Irina Jelavich – had this cold glint in her eyes as she stared unflinchingly at Father Fujimoto. Father didn’t seem to know what to do with himself, but he tried to fake being at ease. Irina and Karasuma both saw through him easily, but I don’t think the exwires could. Rin was sitting close enough to the two teachers that it looked like he could hear them and was actively listening in as he stared Father Fujimoto down due to the fact that his head was cocked to the side so that his ear was facing the mysterious duo.

Of course while one ear was on the duo’s conversation and his eyes were caught in a staring match with his legal guardian, his other ear and his body was facing the teen sitting next to him. Izumo, who had her back facing the Kyoto Trio in an obvious effort to show her decided allegiance, was complaining in a sharp and clipped tone to Rin. Her voice – saying something about how Shiratori Reiji was beginning to become a problem again and maybe Shindou should do something about it – was just the right volume for it to cover the teacher’s conversation but not affect Rin’s almost obvious attempt at listening.

Since when had they been so close. Rin was just nodding along and adding a couple words here and there. But then he seemed to sense my presence and his eyes flickered over to stare me down. They shone with… amusement? That can’t be right. It was unsettling, so I just hurried over and stood to Father’s left, silently urging him to start whatever he was planning on doing. Father Fujimoto just grinned widely before clapping his hands together and looking over all the exwires.

“Welcome back to class! As you can tell by my presence, some things are changing. As some of you may know, I’m one of the Paladins and a very skilled and experienced exorcist. I will be overseeing your classes and throwing in some helpful tips every now and then, but don’t expect too much alright? Give this old man some leeway.” He said in a joking and disarming manner. Rin smirked from his place at the back of the class. Izumo just looked annoyed at the fact that her rant had been interrupted.

Karasuma and Irina were looking at him curiously, like they almost couldn’t figure out what Shiro was planning on doing here; looking for an ulterior motive. “Now if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, Yukio? I was wondering if I could give a bit of a lesson – well more of a question session – before you begin yours?” I found no problem in that and gestured for him to continue.

“By all means, they could learn a lot from you.”


	8. Shit is Going to Go Down - Only Next Chapter

Karma/Rin P.O.V

“Wonderful!” Father Fujimoto said excitedly. He clapped his hand before turning and writing the word ‘Demon’ on the board. “What can you guys tell me about demons? This is just a recap section so you shouldn’t be afraid to answer.” He assured the class. I wasn’t so sure.

What the fuck was he doing here?

Despite my vast amount of foresight, no one had bothered to inform me that Father Fujimoto would be here today. Admittedly, I was internally incredibly pissed, but I couldn’t let anyone else know. And while I was certainly annoyed beyond belief, I was also incredibly irrationally amused. Yukio felt the need to call in Fujimoto? I must have been getting to him more than I though.

I pulled out my sketchbook and dumped it loudly on the desk causing Shura to glare over at me for my subtle interruption of whatever the fuck Fujimoto was doing. She idolized him, just like everyone else in this damn class. Honestly… the guy wasn’t that great. Give me an assassin any day.

Sure on some fundamental level I understand that he has to have some skill otherwise he wouldn’t be so respected, but I lived with the guy for half a summer. I know what he’s _really_ like, and it doesn’t exactly promote respect for an authority. Plus, he was old; way past his prime. Admittedly I didn’t have that great of a track record with being impressed by anyone (save Nagisa, and Korosensei on a good day) but honestly Karasuma was way more impressive than a priest who just happens to be a part time exorcist.

And Bitch-sensei was infinitely cooler than that – don’t tell her though. She worked as an assassin. Huh. The assassin and the government agent. Her and Karasuma make quite the couple.

But yeah. Not that impressive.                               

I turn my head slightly in Izumo’s direction, immediately getting her attention. “You up for some fun?” I whisper, barely moving my mouth, yet still loud enough that Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei could hear. They would know that I’m also addressing them. Izumo smirked and then mirrored my posture. She was game. Irina yawned loudly.

“Ya! Why are you asking this? Don’t you know a lot about demons? Why don’t you tell the kiddies something new or interesting?” she asked innocently, pouting and leaning into her husband’s side. Ah, the underestimation. Beautiful.

Fujimoto’s smile tightened but he didn’t lose any of his friendly air… yet. “Well, Miss …?” he began, obviously waiting for Irina to provide her name. He didn’t… know one of the teacher’s names? This would be easier than I though.

“Jelavich. And it’s Mrs. I’m married,” she said with an annoyed look on her face. “I’m a teacher here.” Fujimoto’s smile tightened even more and he made a rather obvious attempt at brightening his facial features and demeanor. Anyone who has any skill at reading body language would know that he was obviously uncomfortable. I don’t remember it being this easy to rattle someone of Fujimoto’s age and experience. Although after playing nice for so long, letting loose a little extra snap felt good. But it was even better to watch others; I was such a big fan of watching things just fall apart around me.

Maybe that was the demon side in me. I just loved creating and watching chaos reign. Am I an anarchist? Nah…

“Ah yes. Well, Mrs. Jelavich, this trip to the school was rather last minute. My foster son, called and asked for me to do a class just to spice things up. He thought that maybe the class needed a little pick me up after the incidents.” He said. “I am asking because I just want to have an estimate on how much knowledge you have on demons.” He explained, “now if anyone would like to inform me on what you’ve covered so far?”

Bon looked only too eager to speak up. “So far we’ve covered basic demon classification and weaknesses as well as how to handle ourselves in the field. We have gone over some basic weapons training, but Karasuma-sensei has been mainly focusing on physical fitness and Shura has been trying to teach us how to use weapons but she hasn’t been very successful.” He shot a distasteful look over at Shura, and wow that was new.

Since when did Bon have beef with Shura?

Fujimoto frowned slightly before looking jokingly at Yukio. “Yukio! What have you been doing? You’ve only covered the basics? And Karasuma-san was it? Why haven’t you been teaching them any fighting techniques. I saw your file when I was last at the Vatican, you’re quite accomplished.” He said, directing the second half of his little speech to the back of the room where Karasuma-sensei sat behind me impassively.

“Well we’ve just come back from the exwire exams and some things came up at the training camp. We were thrown rather head first into things and we didn’t have much time to go over much more than the basics considering some people didn’t know anything about demons in the first place.” Yukio looked ashamed as he stared at his feet and shuffled awkwardly.

Karasuma folded his hands in front of him. “Like Okumura-san said, things have been rather… exciting lately. I don’t have as much time to work with the students as I’d like and I have to make do with the class I have 3 times a week. I’ve got my wife and Rin-kun helping me but there’s a lot of work that has to be done. None of the students save Rin-kun and perhaps Suguro-san are physically capable of the demands of being a field agent.”

Shima squawked indignantly. I wanted to facepalm. That wasn’t a dignified sound at all. Izumo scoffed, “It’s the truth, Shima. Don’t act all offended.” Shima glared at her and pouted.

“Don’t act all high and mighty, Izumo-chan! You weren’t physically fit either.” He argued.

Izumo rolled her eyes. “At least I’ve improved and don’t complain.” She snarked. I grinned, Izumo was great at tearing people down. Her bite was complimented the strategy we were playing perfectly, and she came around in the end. She was a good friend.

“Well, we’ll just have to step it up a little more, yes? I was planning on taking the class for a mission tomorrow. Arrangements have already been made so it will be a chance for me to see how you guys operate.” Father Fujimoto cut in before things could escalate any further. “Over the course of this mission I’ll be giving all of you some helpful tips, but I’ll cover some simple things right now.”

Then Father Fujimoto leaned forward, planting his hands on Yukio’s desk as he stared everyone in the room down. It looked like he was about to ‘drop some serious knowledge’ as Terasaka would say. “Now the one thing that you should remember about all demons is this one universal truth. A demon’s tail is always the weakest part of a demon. When in doubt, go for the tail. This trick could save your life.”

I froze for a second before bursting out in laughter. Oh that was just great! All that time spent learning about demons and he had it wrong the entire time! I guffawed loudly as I bent over my seat. I vaguely heard someone (maybe Konekomaru?) asking what you were supposed to do if you couldn’t see a tail (was he asking so he could attack me? That would be foolish) but I couldn’t focus because I was laughing so hard. Apparently, Izumo was thinking the same thing as I was because within seconds she was stifling giggles behind her hand.

“Is something funny, Rin, Ms. Kamiki?”

I grinned smugly and twirled my pen between my fingers. I lean back in my chair and write with the pencil that I held in the other hand on my notebook. “Nothing sir. It’s just… that’s a rather inaccurate assumption, now isn’t it?” I say innocently, looking very my shoulder at Izumo. “You’ve seen my tail right? I wouldn’t call it weak.”

There. I had them. While it was true that Izumo had seen my tail, to her it wouldn’t seem all that significant. But to the professionals in the room, seeing a demon’s tail was almost unheard of unless it was in the heat of battle. And most if not all demons had some sort of defense for their tail that was often the most deadly part of the demon. Even coal tars could cause a reasonable amount of damage if one were to pull on their tails. High level demons would kill you instantly instead of playing around like they normally would – which is basically what gives the exorcists a chance at surviving.

“If they come across a high level demon they’ll be dead in an instant if the go for the tail.” I continued. Father Fujimoto actually looked annoyed now. I smirked inwardly. What was he going to do now? It was his play after all. His move.

“Yukio would you mind continuing? I believe I need to have a couple words with your brother.”

I raised a hand to quiet Izumo’s protests as I stood up elegantly. She stared me in the eye for a moment, silently asking if I was sure and if I would be okay. After a moment of looking, she came to her conclusion and let me walk. I grinned, showing off my less than human canines.

“Oh course sir.” I said smirking as everyone visibly moved back in their seats to get as far away from me as possible as I moved past them. “Nothing to worry about Izumo, Tadaomi-sensei, Bitch-sensei! We won’t be long” I said, deliberately using the terms of endearment I knew would ping Fujimoto’s interest. My familiarity with the two other teachers was sure to at least strike him as odd.

I was done pretending to be helpless.

I’m dangerous and they should do well not to underestimate me. I have friends in high places and for a lot of people, I am one of those friends in high places. With me knowing a government official (both for Japan and holding a high position in the Vatican) well enough to use his first name, it spoke of a lot. And yet, adding the suffix of sensei only proved to show that while I know him well enough to use his first name, I still hold a level of respect for him. A demon respecting anyone was something in itself. It branded Karasuma as something more dangerous than he appears, and that’s saying something.

And the way I addressed Irina was significant as well. It implies that I don’t know her just because she was Karasuma-sensei’s wife. She taught me and I recognize the fact that she was a useful mentor. Her particular skillset (being that of a foreign assassin) mean that I could have learned any number of dangerous talents as well making it blatantly obvious that my connections aren’t just within Japan. Admittedly, my only connections are Irina and the Vatican as well as some field agents who prefer to ally themselves with me, but Fujimoto and Yukio don’t need to know that.

Neither does the Vatican.

All I need them to know is that I am not someone they want to mess with. But making my alliances clear in this moment has another purpose as well. Fujimoto wants to cross me and that’s fine. I just want to make him aware of what he’s up against. While Yukio might be a special brand of annoying, he’s still my brother and no matter how messed up that might sound… I still feel that blasted need to make sure that he’s okay.

He’s betrayed me, and now he’s called in the bloody paladin to make sure that I ‘stay in line’. What the fuck? I get that he hasn’t known me long, but still. When family means more to the _demon_ in the family than it does to the _human_ , well… that’s when you know your family’s messed up.

And Father Fujimoto seems to be important to Yukio, so I can play nice. For now. It all depended on Fujimoto really.

I walked confidently to the front, passing Fujimoto on my way out of the room, not exactly caring how disrespectful I was. We were technically of the same rank even if only one of us was aware of that fact and I was secure enough in my position with the Vatican not to be worried about it.

At least with me being employed by them (only a technicality really. It’s more like they recognize the fact that I am dangerous and have ranked me so that their people recognize that they shouldn’t attack me without extreme caution.

It’s still a pity in my opinion that I can’t make people aware of my power yet. Nor can I actually attack any of the gaki. Class E certainly didn’t learn to stop being cocky until we were horrendously outclassed. It would be quite the earning experience. He should bring it up with Yukio. Maybe it would even get the Kyoto Trio to work out some of their tension. A good wake up call always helped push people. Whether it was forwards or backwards was up to them.

He waited in the hall as Fujimoto smiled at the class before leaving and closing the door behind him. He sighed heavily, rubbing his temples as he looked at me. “My dear boy, what on earth has gotten into you?” he asked in exasperation. I raised an eyebrow, baring my teeth at him.

“I have no idea what you mean,” I said innocently, “I’ve always been like this. You might want to elaborate.” I was just baiting him at this point. I certainly wouldn’t be doing him any favours by guess what he meant, so he was going to have to say exactly what he was implying. I wasn’t going to be the bad guy here. That was not going to fly. They were the ones being racist here.

“You’ve changed since you lived with us for the summer. Now I know first missions can be somewhat traumatizing, but I don’t believe that that’s any reason for you to reveal your demonic status and do a complete 180 personality wise!” Fujimoto looked real frazzled. I must have been a little much today then. I usually didn’t get to people this fast. He was probably used to people who worshiped the ground he walked on and respected his skills.

He was just an old priest to me. Honey, I’m an assassin, you can’t impress me. I raised an eyebrow, “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I’m always like this? Maybe you never knew me at all. And… for all you knew, I had no idea that I was half demon. You never told me, maybe, I just reacted when a bloody demon king decided to attack my class. Maybe, it was _instinct_.” I sneer, wholly unimpressed with how he was handling this.

“But you have to admit that you’re being a little difficult. Maybe if you didn’t act like this, the others wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable.” He argued, clearly believing that I was the one at fault.

“And maybe if girls didn’t wear short skirts boys would stop staring. Oh wait… that doesn’t help at all. Now you’re just victim blaming.” I shot back. “I’m just existing and they seem to disagree with my continued existence purely because of my race! What have I ever done to them? I’ve only ever saved their ungrateful asses and this is how they repay me? They should be grateful that I have these powers. Without them they’d be dead.”

“Maybe they’d get that if you didn’t act so much like a damn monster!” he shouted in frustration. We both fell silent. Ah… so that was what he thought. I took a step forward and looked him right in the eye.

“Because I’m obviously a monster. Ah yes… how typical. You Vatican bunch just love to play up the fact that demons are creatures of destruction, meanwhile humans can just murder each other all willy-nilly. But of course _we’re_ the bad guys.” My words were sharp, meant to cut deep into him. I was angry and rightfully so.

How dare he? This is literally what people used as arguments for slavery and other things that the human race now decides are crimes. I wanted him to realize his own faults. I might be a cruel person y nature, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely unreasonable. Admittedly, I do like to pick on the weak, but only those who I feel deserve it. Everyone was weak to me though. So I suppose that doesn’t really help.

“If you want a monster I can be a monster. That’s up to you. Nobody’s born a monster Fujimoto. We’re _made_.”

I sneered at him, my upper lip curling in discontent at his facial expression. It was blank, but then he seemed to sag and he looked about 10 years older. His expression was tired as he looked at me. “You need to be careful, Rin. Now that the Vatican knows of your satanic decent, you will be watched closely.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So this is meant to be a warning?” I asked, placing a hand on my hip and leaning forward slightly. I made quite the image; school boy uniform, bright red locks and golden eyes. I looked like the trouble maker that I was, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe people wouldn’t paint me as the villain if my hair wasn’t that different of a colour.

Red is associated with anger, the dark side. My golden eyes don’t help either. Complete with the fangs I fit the Other very well. I was different. Not one of them, but not one of ‘us’ either. “Or is it a threat? Stop being yourself and go back to being pathetic or you’ll be killed.” Fujimoto just looked tired now, but he was much more composed, obviously trying to hide his discomfort.

“You need to be careful, Rin. Yukio cares about you and you don’t want to die… do you?” he asked me seriously. I smile slyly.

“I have no intention of dying anytime soon, old man.” My grin slipped off my face, being replaced by a stony mask. “If you think your pathetic organization can take me down, you’re sadly mistaken. Scarier people have tried and failed. I’m not scared of the Vatican. You’ll find that… they’re going to be less excited to go after the red headed son of Satan than you’d think. The new Paladin isn’t likely to allow them to do this… you’ll be stepping on quite a few powerful toes.” I turn and make my way back towards the door of the classroom. “You might want to be careful how you step… Father.”

Then I’m walking through the door once more and taking my seat, ignoring any protest that Fujimoto might have made. He wasn’t my problem. I trust the Vatican to know that they shouldn’t get on my bad side if they ever wanted me as an ally. They’d leave me alone; find some excuse to _not_ send people after me.

And if they did… well they wouldn’t be getting them back.


	9. The Mission (Diagnostic Test)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my fucking computer still isn't fixed. It's been a fucking month and lenovo sucks for repairs guys. So I'm at a library right now. Idk when the next chapter will be up but I'm going from Ontario to Indianapolis this weekend so I'll have time to write some stuff, but I've been hella busy this summer. I'm legit one chapter away from finishing another longterm fic, so I might do that first. meh

Karma/Rin P.O.V

The next morning we all met up at the school early at Fujimoto’s request. He had a ‘mission’ planned for the class as some fucked up diagnostic test. I mean, out of all the things that had happened here, this wasn’t the most fucked up (that position belonged to the one time that Karasuma-sensei had been away and we’d had one of the Vatican sanctioned substitute teachers - who was originally going to teach the class - who was _crazy_. Seriously we’d spent the class just being chased by giant hobgoblins and he’d skipped out halfway through because his… ‘kitten’ had called) however that didn’t mean that this was what I had been looking for.

Like, I get that this is exorcist training and it isn’t supposed to be normal, but this was getting a bit out there. Nowhere near as bad as Korosensei could be, however Korosensei at least cared about our education. So far, this cram school has thrown everything out of wack. I get that some people are here because this is the only thing that matters to them right now - cough*Bon*cough - but I care about my future outside of being an exorcist? Maybe it’s because I’m already successful in that aspect and I’m only here because I am obligated to?

I don’t really know.

But cram class - which, let me remind everyone, is taught by my workaholic twin brother (who is horrendously appalled by my lack of studying while still maintaining grades that are better than his own - little does he know that all of these classes are infinitely easier than the shit we dealt with in Class E) who got into this school on scholarship and from already being an exorcist - seems to ignore the normal portion of school. Shiemi only goes to cram, however she doesn’t have to worry about staying in school. The rest of us did.

It’s like that one music director who claims that rehearsal is more important than one’s education. Like? No??? That’s not correct? ???????????

So yeah, I’m standing at the gates of the school at 5 in the morning with a bag packed for at least a week of not being at school. I’d already emailed all my professors, but they were fine with it because I was already ahead of class. I hope that this case will be over long before the planned week, but with demons you never know.

Although I can’t help but resentfully think that with Korosensei or Karasuma-sensei in charge everything was exact and all the unexpected was planned for.

At least I wasn’t waiting here alone. The rest of the cram class along with the other teachers were here. The only one who wasn’t, was of course, Fujimoto. Even Yukio was here and he was notorious (from what I’d heard from the other priests over the summer) for always being the last to arrive unless he left an hour or so early.

It was almost 6 AM by the time that he showed up, and by then everyone was sitting around in various places, either sleeping or trying to keep themselves occupied. And when Fujimoto arrived driving an old and beat up mini school bus, it took all of my self control to _not_ facepalm at the sight of the priest who was supposed to be this world renowned exorcist.

After that it was on the bus to our mysterious location. Fun.

 

* * *

 

I didn't know what I was expecting, but the large territory we found certainly wasn't it. Considering we drove out to a pretty rural area, I probably should have suspected that we wouldn't exactly be going to the peak of modern society, however the rather large barn and farm house we found wasn't exactly at the top of the list of expectations.

The land was beautiful. There were fields that seemed to go on for days(only broken up by rolling hills), and yet the forest that surrounded the area seemed very near; almost looming over the land in a threatening manner. The farmhouse itself was beautiful. It was American in style and perfectly furnished. Not a thing was out of place; even the paint job was still perfect. Clearly this family cared about appearances.

And yet, the barn was another matter all in itself. It sat in front of a rather large pond that crossed through the property - the waters were still to an almost unnerving level. It made me feel very nervous with its nearly pitch black water. Nothing good could come of that pond; of that I was sure - and it was surrounded by a ring of trees. The trees were tall weeping willows that flapped lightly in the breeze, creating a rather eerie welcome.

(The breeze that I would later notice didn't change the unnatural stillness of the black water at all.)

The barn looked worn and almost abandoned. The wood was splintered and rotten, leaving many holes in the walls of the structure. It was covered in various fauna and looked both sad and sinister at the same time. It would have been beautiful had it not had an almost sick feeling about it. The plants were dark and there wasn't a sound. No animals made even a peep.

But the one thing that unsettled me the most, was the smell of blood. I’m an assassin and I’m used to blood and death, however the scent was old and tangy; it didn't belong in this setting. There was something very wrong for there to be the scent of blood in the air. Especially old festering blood.

Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei flanked me, their stiff forms clearly indicating that they also smelt the blood and liked this situation about as much as I did. But the others - even Fujimoto - seemed to find nothing wrong with their surroundings at all. It was mind boggling.

“Wah! This place is so pretty! Are you sure that this is the right place, Father Fujimoto?” Shiemi exclaimed naively. She bounced around excitedly, gripping onto Yukio’s arm tightly as she gawked at the scenery. Similarly, Shima and Konekomaru also stared wide eyes at the area. Izumo and Bon were both more subdued, however they still didn't seem to pick up on the _off_ feeling of this place.

The feeling actually reminded me a lot of the suicide forest. Dark, oppressive, sinister and yet also incredibly deceiving. Everything was only slightly off. Father Fujimoto clapped his hands together and smiled brightly at Shiemi. “Why Moriyama-san, of course this is the right place. Although I will admit that it is quite beautiful.

“Take a moment and listen.” I spoke up suddenly. “What do you hear.”

Izumo stared at me in confusion. She furrowed her polka dot eyebrows as she listened. “I hear nothing.” She said, clearly puzzles as to why I was even asking. I shook my head, staring at the dark water.

“Exactly. There's nothing here. No birds, no farm animals; you can't even hear the breeze. Don't you think that there's something wrong with that?” I pointed out calmly. I saw Shura freeze for a moment before frantically glancing around as if trying to prove my point wrong, but she inevitably failed.

“This place isn't safe. You shouldn't let your guard down, Moriyama-san.” Karasuma-sensei’s deep voice cut through the silence ominously. Izumo frowned in contemplation of sensei’s words. She opened her mouth as if to ask a question but she was quickly cut off by none other than Father Fujimoto.

“Mah, mah! There's no need to worry so much! You are all perfectly safe here. This is only a minor issue.” He assured the exwires, although Bon and Izumo (who I was quickly learning were the more cautious and suspicious people of the group) still looked a bit skeptical. “We should head towards the house to talk to our clients!” Fujimoto continued on, oblivious to the unease that some of his students were beginning to feel.

“Just stay alert.” Irina said as soon as Fujimoto was out of earshot. “You have us and your classmates to rely on if anything goes wrong. I don't like this situation, but we have to do what we have to do. Be prepared, because tomorrow we’re going to do some training in those field. Get ready for a monster work out!” She called cheerfully if not a little sadistically, beginning to follow the known Paladin with Karasuma in tow.

Izumo briefly glanced at me and I shrugged. I didn't have a good feeling about this place, however we were stuck here. Tomorrow I would probably spend some time running circles around my classmates. Maybe if I could escape the Father’s watchful gaze I could look into that pond. It gave me - the demon son of Satan and master assassin - the heebie jeebies and I don't like it.

Not one bit.

 

* * *

 

The walk to the farm house wasn’t that long. They followed a winding dirt path to the beautiful charcoal grey and white house and got there only a couple minutes after Fujimoto did. The house was even more beautiful up close, its elegant lace like details standing out against the rich greens and blues of the scenery. Oddly colourful next to the dead and dark barn. Whatever was plaguing the land seemed to not be able to touch this place. How weird.

Fujimoto raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door. A minute later, a young woman in her mid-twenties opened the door. She was a small mousy little thing, with limp and dull blonde hair that only made her pale Caucasian complexion look even more sickly. She wasn't quite skin and bones, but she was clearly a couple pounds underweight. She had crystal blue eyes that stared into your very soul and a sharp pointed nose. There was a haunted look in her eyes and dark bags signifying a lack of sleep.

“Ah, Father Fujimoto, we're so glad you came.” Even her voice was soft, holding a slight tremor. The fingers on one hand were clutching the door in a death grip; the other was causing wrinkles in the skirt of her simple one piece dress. She was nervous. But why? “Come in, come in. My father would very much like to talk to all of you. After that I’ll show you to where you’ll be staying.” She held open the door for all of us to walk through. I ducked my head in thanks as I passed her, and she nodded in return, looking at me oddly for a moment. Her eyes were cautious, clearly seeing something _off_ in me too.

She had keen senses then.

“My name’s Marin, by the way. Please follow me.” She proceeded to direct us down a couple hallways until we arrived at what looked to be a den of some sort. It was spacious and tastefully decorated. The walls were painted a light grey, complimenting the black stone of the fireplace. All the furniture was set in a circular formation around a small glass coffee table. The dark wood of the various furniture along with the black leather showed taste and status.

Sitting on a loveseat across from the fireplace was an elderly couple in their early 60s. They were dressed in semi-formal wear but looked completely comfortable in it. They weren't trying to impress us, it was simply their normal attire. They were a family of old money then. I don't know how _impressed_  they are going to be with the ‘exorcists’ that they've hired.

This is a class full of newbies and I have no doubt that this is an issue that won't be as easy to solve as Fujimoto suggests. Something's _wrong_ with that pond and barn. I don't know how clear cut this will be. I have a feeling that it's not going to be a run of the mill demon that we’ll be able to send back to Gehenna and be done with.

“Thank you for coming, Father Fujimoto.” The old man greeted us, standing up and gesturing towards the other chairs, clearly offering us a place to sit. “Please have a seat. We have much to discuss.” We nodded and bowed respectfully - the woman’s keen eyes watching me as I did a standard half-bow which was used by nobility to greet those of equal status while still showing respect back in the day; I knew she had some idea that something was up with me - before taking our seats around the room.

I immediately chose the seat that was opposite to the door (so I had a clear escape route) but not in front of the dark fireplace (which also for some reason, held the scent of long past death). Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei sat on one side of me in their own loveseat, while Izumo sat on the arm of the chair I had chosen. I allowed myself to slouch slightly, pulling off your typical villain posing on the throne with the girl at his side look. I could tell that my… ease irked Fujimoto, but he was careful not to let it show.

The others had chosen various seats around the room, but there was a distinct separation between the Kyoto Trio and my own group of supporters. Shura, Fujimoto, Yukio, and Shiemi were caught in the middle. So much for a united front.

“Smith-san, if you could explain to us exactly what has been happening? I haven't had the chance to update my students on what they're getting into yet.” Fujimoto said good naturedly. The man raised an eyebrow at the informal manner the Father spoke in, however he grudgingly spoke anyways.

“Ah yes. Your… students.” He said stiffly, giving us all a once over and making his own set of deductions as to who we were. “My name is Harrison Smith, and this is my wife, Meredith. You’ve already met our daughter Marin. And as you would expect, we’ve called you here to deal with a problem of the demonic sort.” His accent was clearly old English, however he spoke in very formal Japanese with impeccable pronunciation. His old blue eyes glared at everyone in the room, his ending statement clearly meant to be belittling.

“We just moved here the month before, and already you can tell that something isn't right. No animals have crossed onto the property in a reported decade. Any animal that was brought onto the farmland has been killed in a rather vicious manner within 24 hours of its arrival. I’m sure that tomorrow morning, you’ll find the cows we just brought in slaughtered. No matter what type of animal it is, it's killed. Violently. Just last week, a squatter was killed while we were out of the country. There's an oppressive presence here and I want it gone.”

I frowned. That didn't sound like the typical demonic activity that we'd usually deal with (although our ‘exwire’ exam wasn't exactly normal either) and it didn't fit the profile of any of the demons we’d learned about.

“Smith-san, if I may inquire,” I began, sitting up in my seat to face the owner. “Do you perhaps know the history of the house? I have some suspicions as to what this might be. Perhaps I can get some information about the squatter and following investigation as well. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I’d like to check out the barn later tonight as well.” Someone had been killed. The demon was escalating. But it hadn't killed the ones in the house yet. Odd.

Meredith looked troubled. “Honey, no one’s been inside that barn for weeks. We just open the door to let the cattle in after the incident. It won't be a pretty sight, even if the police did clean up the body.” She shook her head sadly, “although there wasn't all that much left to clean up.” I  share a glance with Bitch-sensei.

“I assure you, ma’am, that it won't be the worst thing I’ve seen. And do you know anything about the building and what happened to it and the property before you moved in?” I said in a soothing agreeing tone. Meredith looked a little shaken and turned to her husband for reassurance before speaking once more.

“We didn't know any of this until after we'd already bought the property of course.” She insisted, looking down at her lap and clasped hands. “But every previous owner has been run out after someone in the family was violently murdered, their corpse completely torn apart and half eaten. All the livestock was brutally killed as well. I believe that we should have a series of journals about the history somewhere, as well as some other things about the property. Before we called you in, we had called another group.” She explained.

“They were called Shibuya Psychic Research, and we’d called them in under the assumption that it was a ghost. They’d looked through the records and stayed a couple nights but quickly discovered they couldn't help us because they didn't have the skills to deal with a demon.” She said disdainfully. I nodded in response and stood up, quickly followed by the rest of the exwires and company.

“I would love to take a look at those records later tonight, thank you. If you would show us where we are to be staying?” I prompted, watching as Marin rose gracefully and gestured for us to follow her. We went down another series of hallways before she lead us down a strip with a door at the end that clearly lead to the outside.

“Here's your rooms. We have one for the girls and two for the boys. The door at the end of the hall is the back door, so you will be able to come and go as you please.” She said softly, before flowing out of the room almost as if in a daze.

Father Fujimoto grinned before speaking. “Well that went well! We’ll be sure to get a start bright and early tomorrow! So why don't all of you get settled in. I just need to talk with Rin about something.” I raised an eyebrow and stared the priest down. What was his game.

Karasuma nodded and lead the boys into two separate groups; the Kyoto Trio and Yukio, and me, Fujimoto and himself in the other. Meanwhile, Irina gleefully lead Izumo, Shiemi and Shura into the other room, chatting happily about ‘feminine bonding’ or something. I internally cringed. I tossed Karasuma-sensei my bag as J turned around to deal with the man who’d fostered my twin brother. “Karasuma-sensei! Meet me out back whenever you're done. I still want to check out that barn and I want a second opinion.” I call as I lead Father Fujimoto out to the door and away from prying ears.

“What did you want exactly?” I asked, hands on my hip as I taped my foot. I was impatient and on edge with how dark the atmosphere was here. I’d kept my katana on me, and I always had my flames, but being armed didn't do anything to make me feel any more secure. I casually summoned a doll and sat it on my shoulder. Being full on demons, their sense were even higher than my own. They would be effective look outs.

This demonstration seemed to unsettle Fujimoto, but to his credit he was beginning to take things in stride. “Since when have you been able to do _that_?” He asked, distracted from his original point. Well fuck. That wasn't what I was trying to do.

I rolled my eyes, “since we were tested to see if we were summoners. I got these little guys courtesy of my past and I was reunited with my boyfriend who I had thought was dead.” I sneer, gesturing at the sinister doll. It's red eyes gleamed as it stared unnervingly at Fujimoto. I knew for a fact that the eye contact with a doll of any kind was creepy, but the bright red intelligent eyes of my demon summons were extra creepy. “What did you call me aside for?” I reminded him again.

He shook his head and looked away from the doll. “Are you sure going out to the barn is a good idea? Like Smith-san said, it won't be a pretty sight and you shouldn't have to see it.” He insisted softly. I rolled my eyes as I ‘saw underneath the underneath’ so to say. He was concerned that since my demon side had been awakened and I was already showing sadistic traits that this would just escalate my demonic behaviour. You know, all the death and gore and stuff.

“Do you want this to be solved quickly? I will be spending the majority of tomorrow either training or reading over the history. I would like to get a stable look at the barn now before you guys tamper with it more. I’ll of course go with the group on the morning look to see if the cows are dead, but you most likely won't allow them to go in either even if it would be instrumental in our success.” I said in a matter of fact tone. “And with all due respect, Father, this won't be the first time that I see a crime scene. I’m not a novice. I’ve dealt with much worse than what I suspect this demon is.”

Father Fujimoto’s mouth settled into an unhappy scowl. He clearly wasn't happy with how things were playing out, and I was almost impressed with his tenacity. Almost.

“Then I’ll be accompanying you tonight.” He decided. I sighed in response because arguing with him would be pointless at this point.

“Fine, but we’re still going to wait for Tadaomi-sensei.” I cave, letting him think he won. He would still be a hindrance, but hopefully he won't get too much in the way.

“I’m sure I can give you that second opinion. We should go before it gets dark. It's getting late.” He tried, angling on being the adult that I could rely on. I was not going to have that.

“We’re waiting. The look on it is different than you’d think. Karasuma-sensei knows how I think; how to think like the murderer we’re trying to track down. Demon or human; it makes no difference to us. Monsters are all the same.” I said in a tone that spoke of no more arguments. He wasn't getting around this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhhhhh im so sorry that this didn't get out sooner and that I don't have much more shit to post anytime soon.


	10. The Barn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of you lovely readers might be getting a little antsy to see Class E, bur fear not, they will get involved pre-reconciliation and they have a bigger role to play in the end game of this installment. Just gotta get through this mission and then a couple more classes then the reconciliation will happen. Pls be patient and continue to read my story.

Karma/Rin P.O.V

It didn't take much longer for Karasuma-sensei to get out back, however every minute I was waiting Fujimoto tried to make awkward conversation. Doing things like asking me about how my grades are and if I had a girlfriend (to which I responded politely with ‘my grades are fine’ and ‘I have a boyfriend’; which of course quickly shut down the conversation. I did my best to make it obvious I was not going to engage in small talk with the priest.

Karasuma-sensei (honestly a blessing to this earth at this point) had picked up on the tension and simply talked to me like everything was normal. “I must apologize, Rin-kun. The others were not quick to settle.” I smirk at his opening. Of fucking course they weren't. However, Karasuma-sensei could be terrifying when he wanted to be.

I really wouldn't be surprised if he used his assassin face on them - if he smiled then they must have truly done something special - because they had been completely annoying and racist for the past couple of weeks. The Kyoto Trio especially seemed to love throwing slurs whenever they could.

Honestly I get that their parents had been killed by Satan in a freak attack after my birth however they seem to fail to understand that I am not Satan and in fact had no control over the situation? But they should have been raised better? They all get hella offended as soon as I mention how racist they are being. As if me being half demon makes it okay.

Like, excuse you, but no.

“No worries, sensei! Father Fujimoto was just talking about how he'd like to tag along as well.” I said simply, twisting the truth just slightly. It wouldn't do to make myself look like a tattler (any show of weakness at this point really wasn't acceptable because Fujimoto would use it against me and accredit all the ‘horrors’ to my demonic heritage and try to ‘fix’ me. You know, like how the white people had residential schools to ‘civilize’ the natives. I might be taking this a little far but excuse me for being bitter at the fact that I'm being judged for my race. Not cool) and Fujimoto would expect me to lie.

However I doubt that he accounted for the fact that Karasuma-sensei knows my tells well enough to read between the lines.

We wouldn't be able to leave the old man behind because he has some misguided idea that I need a parental figure in my life to ‘straighten me out’. I have no idea how literal that ‘straighten’ is, but Fujimoto had shut up as soon as I’d said I had a boyfriend. He honestly should have known I mean, I know Yukio reports to him.

Hmm, wonder what type of metaphorical and literal skeletons he has in his closet.

Anyways, after the obligatory excuses we made our way outside. It was about 7 in the evening, so there was still plenty of light for us to see our way to the old barn. And just like last time, the feeling of dread began to trickle up my spine as we got closer and closer to its rotten walls. By the time we arrived, my instincts - the demons ones that usually told me I could handle things - were screaming at me that something was _wrong_ and that there was something _here_ . I needed to _not_ be here, because whatever _was_ , was a threat.

I may be only a half demon, but I’m still plenty dangerous because I was Satan’s son. Even if I’m half human and the youngest, I’m still on the top tier of the hierarchy. This _thing_ being a threat wasn't a good sign at all.

I’d hate to have to call in backup, but I know when a team of experienced people was needed. I don't know if it’ll be that bad, but I should probably be prepared.

Once we got to the doors, it was rather easy to hear uneasy shuffling from inside the structure. Taking point, I carefully nudged open the door, taking care to not touch the wood with my skin, instead choosing to cover my hand with my school uniform sleeve. The door swung open with little effort, to reveal a rather rancid sight.

As promised, there were indeed live cattle within the wrecked building, however they looked sickly. They were standing in a zombie like state in the middle of the building, huffing and shuffling every so often. Around their feet was a pile of… well it was hard to tell exactly what it was with how the whole thing _smelt._

To my enhanced senses, the smell was brutal. The pile looked to be a combination of shit, blood, other bodily fluids both human and other, and what appeared to be various organs. This was straight up horror movie shit and I was about to do the dumb white person thing (you’ve all seen the movies - you know that the white person always makes the stupid decision that inevitably gets everyone killed) and approach it.

I carefully took a step forward, doing my best to not get the mixture onto my school uniform shoes - seriously why the fuck was Fujimoto insisting on following dress code _out in the middle of fucking nowhere on a fucking job_.

But that's none of my business.

Upon entering the actual building it was easy to see that this place was a whole lot worse than the first impression suggested. There was blood all over the wall, painted in horrid streaks and the air was stale, with the scent of cow shit being the strongest, blood being the second. Very appealing. I can totally see why a squatter would want to stay in this place.

Not.

There was a particularly big stain in the corner along with some bloody scraps of clothing - most likely the remains of whatever poor bastard thought this would be a good place to crash. Pity really. Wrong place at the wrong time. They were left in a heap, almost careless. Although, in my experience, the police around this area never seemed to care all that much about _delinquents_.

The cows were standing in a circle, subconsciously standing with their heads to each other’s rear ends. All of them had a good view of at least a third of the barn. Even if it didn’t do all that much considering how out of it the cows looked, they had subconsciously circled in a protective circle both around themselves, and the massive pile of _shit_. Why I have no idea. What’s so important about the pile of bodily remains?

I carefully stepped closer to the cows that were, after taking a second look, were quite possibly sleeping. Karasuma-sensei had followed me into the barn by now, being just as silent and careful as I was in his own investigation. I scrunch up my nose at how the scent seemed to get even stronger as I neared the livestock. It made my eyes water, although with the proximity, I could separate the smells a bit further. The scent of manure was overwhelming, but there was a strong smell of blood underneath it. What was new was a scent that I had become intimately familiar with as both an assassin, and someone who hunted down monsters.

The scent of rotting human flesh.

I crept closer to the cows, doing my best not to let them know I was there - although the predator in me held a presence that they would be able to sense and I wasn’t about to change that for _cattle_ \- but I froze at the sound of a loud voice from the entrance. “Is there anything that you pick up? Anything that could tell us what we’re looking at?” Fujimoto called sharply, leaning his head into the barn. I closed my eyes at his sheer idiocy.

We make an effort to be quiet, completely silent even, and then he straight up decides that he’s going to _yell_ into the dead silent building. _Yell._ What the fuck??? I turned for a split second  to send a heated glare at the priest when a shuffle made me freeze. I slowly turned around to face the cows once more but by then it was a little late.

All of their heads had turned to face me. With the sludge around their feet, they wouldn’t be able to move all that fast, however, there was something wrong with their blank gaze. “Karasuma-sensei…” my voice trailed off, barely above a whisper. “We need to go. _Now._ ” In a split second we bolted our way past Father Fujimoto, Karasuma-sensei pulling the large door closed behind us and not a moment too soon. Less than 5 seconds after the door slammed shut there was a loud thump as something heavy collided with the worn wood.

I turned sharply to face Fujimoto. “And what,” I hissed, “did you think you were doing?” I glared, throwing my arms back sharply in a ‘come at me’ type of way. “This is a hostile situation and the demon or whatever is haunting this place could have appeared at any moment. Why on earth did you decided to deliberately break the delicate silence?” I demanded. I was growling under my breath, letting my temper begin to get the best of me.

Although I was quickly placated by Karasuma placing a hand on my shoulder, that didn't stop me from giving Fujimoto my deluxe ‘how can you be so stupid’ look that was usually saved for the likes of Terasaka. Fujimoto huffed.

“I was thinking that I was he experienced one on this mission.” He said stiffly. I internally winced at my faux pas. Damn. I was used to people knowing that I was credible by my skill. Respecting Fujimoto as an authority wasn't going to come easy because not only did I do horribly with authority figures that aren't me, but he also seems to be a bumbling idiot. “And it's not yet completely dark, so I highly doubt that things would really be dangerous. My dear boy, this thing hardly require a ‘hostile situation’ label.”

I growled under my breath internally cursing the fact that humans perceiving senses weren't as sharp as my own. Certainly someone who was supposed to be as experienced as Fujimoto was would feel that something was seriously wrong here.

“People have been killed. _Humans_ .” I reminded him, shrugging off Karasuma’s hand gently. “Your senses might not be as in tune as my own, however you should be able to feel how _wrong_ things are here. This isn't some run of the mill demon that can be exorcised with a simple sutra.” I inhaled sharply, closing my eyes before continuing to speak. “It's not as bad as the Fabr- as the mission that gave the class an exwire status, but it's sinister. I’m not quite sure how _other_ this thing really is.” I admit, stumbling over my knowledge on the mission that we’d lost Paku on.

It was still tough for me, but I didn't want to blow my cover around Fujimoto quite yet. He knew I was half demon, but he hadn't known about Garry. Best bet is that he didn't know about my stint as a kid named Ib.

(Looking back on it I was horrible at aliases, but I learned to like the nickname. I even still use it in some places.)

Fujimoto face darkened, and he looked so serious it was glaringly obvious that the bumbling idiot was just a mask. (Although if you wear a mask long enough, you become the mask - I should know. So… it was only half of a lie really.) “You don't have to worry, Rin. There are plenty of people here who are perfectly capable of handling this by ourselves. I’m a Paladin and Shura is of a class all her own. Even if you don't trust us to handle things you should trust Karasuma-san and Jelavich-san.”

I curled my lip in a sneer. “What happens when you're not here anymore? In case you don't know, Shura doesn't work well in a hostile environment while having to worry for students. She was too busy trying to take control of the situation to even bother listening to reason and under her instructions we would have lost more than Paku. I doubt that this situation will be any different. I’ve stayed alive this long because I’ve listened to my instincts. Perhaps, you should listen to your own.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, I woke up at ass o’clock in the morning because I needed to get some basic fitness exercises done without prying eyes. That and I had no doubt I wouldn't have time later on. Yukio and Fujimoto were probably going to implement a group training section and I wouldn't be able to legitimately push my limits without _someone_ harping at me. So I went outside quietly to sit on the back porch taking some candles with me.

Working on physical fitness is important but so is absolute control over _all_ portions of my power, whether that be my physical strength or how I can use my flames. With the sunrise comes strength to my flames (the power boost from the sun was slightly dulled due to the fact that the moon was only reflecting the sun's power) because fire and sun have always been connected. With this rise in strength, comes more volatile flames. It's harder to control them earlier in the morning before my body gets used to the sun.

I was in the middle of making the flames of candles that I had set in a circle around me go up and down when I heard the door open behind me. “The Smiths have invited us to dine with them.” Irina’s voice, soft from the wish to not disturb, informed me. I nodded and quickly extinguished the flames, dumping the candles into a bag I brought with me. I dropped them off in the room I shared with Karasuma and Fujimoto as I left Irina to wake the others.

Fujimoto and Karasuma-sensei were already up and getting ready for he day, both of them dressed. I quickly ducked around them to grab my own change of clothes and simply started striping right there. I had very little shame, and it wasn't like my scars would be anything new to Karasuma. I didn't care what Fujimoto thought.

And he obviously had an opinion because there was a muffled gasp from his direction behind me. I ignored it and went on with my business because Fujimoto should have known when he received my file when he took me in over the summer.

I was ready within a minute and the three of us made the short journey to the dining room and took seats near the Smiths who had already begun eating. On the table was what appeared to be an American style breakfast buffet. We quietly filled our plates and joined the host family in digging in. There was a series of loud thumps followed by some shrieking, and a couple minutes later, Irina entered the room followed by the disheveled and half asleep exwires she had been sent to wake.

They all sat down and began eating like the zombies hey currently were. There was a brief moment of respite before Meredith began to speak. “So how did everyone sleep?” she asked demurely. Since I was one of the three people (the other people being Karasuma and Bitch-sensei) I answered before someone - most likely Shima considering he had opened his mouth and raised a finger as if to lecture - said something stupid that got us in hot water with the host family. “The accommodations were great. Smith-san. Thank you for your hospitality.” I said diplomatically.

It seemed that that was enough pleasantries, because Harrison immediately skipped on over to interrogation. “How do you plan on handling this… infestation?” He said stiffly, cutting into his waffle and delicately dipping it into a little saucer of syrup like the high class citizen he was. I opened my mouth to begin, but Fujimoto had apparently nursed his coffee long enough and was now functional once more. Looking in that direction, I was able to see that instead of a coffee mug, Shura was setting a horrible impression and nursing a beer can. Lovely, no wonder the Smiths seemed to think we were pathetic.

“Well, we are going to examine the barn again this morning and do a cursory assessment. Then research and training will be done. Depending on the severity, we’ll contact outside help.” Fujimoto said brightly, smiling like that sounded perfectly sound. And for all intents and purposes it was, however the Smiths did _not_ look impressed. At all. Honestly This mission wasn’t up at all.

Harrison raised one silvery eyebrow. “Training? Shouldn’t you be using this time to handle the situation? Not wasting time doing push ups or,” here he stared at Shura with disdain, “getting drunk.” Izumo muffled a snicker in her hand as she snagged another muffin from one of the many plates on the long ass table. Shura just glared at everyone over her beer can, but was obviously tired enough not to comment.

Karasuma stepped in before Fujimoto or god forbid Shura, could keep digging us into a hole. “As you can probably guess, most of the people here are students. They are trainees and future exorcists and this is in field training. But there is no need to worry about inexperience. Father Fujimoto is a Paladin class exorcist, while Shura and I are very high up in the rankings ourselves. My wife is a foreign delegate but she is formidable in her own way. Not to mention that Yukio Okumura is a full fledged exorcist and the teacher of this group, and Rin has all the necessary skills to handle what we cannot.” he explained calmly, easily placating the Smiths.

Marin stared curiously at me, although she was being incredibly cautious. The only reason I knew was because of my heightened senses and situational awareness skills.

After that there was an awkward moment of silence. I looked around the room to see that the others were now just poking at crumbs on their empty plates. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Father Fujimoto stood up abruptly. “Thank you for the meal, Smith-san, we’ll be off now. If you need us for anything, we’ll be out in the field around the barn.” he bowed, closely followed by the rest of us and then we all filed out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. My fucking computer still isn't in, so the company is actually going to send me a brand new one so that's great I guess. However I'm still hella pissed off. I have another story that is literally one chapter away, but I had files that I can't access right now which is basically both my plan for the last chapter, and half of that last chapter. Ah hell, I'm mainly just attacking this story because I have inspiration right now. Honestly I'm pretty hyped for how this thing will turn out and while I do indeed have a couple sequels planned for this story, I don't know if I'll get around to it. Idk.


	11. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. School is a bitch.

Karma/Rin P.O.V

The walk to the barn was a lot longer than I remember, however that was probably due to the fact that everybody was still decently half asleep and walked very slowly. Well, walked was a nice way to put it. I’m pretty sure stumbled would be more accurate, considering how Shima went careening into someone every few seconds. Admittedly the house was a good distance from the barn, but that didn’t mean it should have taken us 15 minutes to get there.

Honestly it was 200m at most. A good walking pace would have been fine, but nooooo. We had to stumble along. Wonderful. But we made it there nonetheless, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I’m just a morning person after all. And if I remember correctly, Nagisa wasn’t exactly all that alert at this time of the morning either. Sure there was some days when he could pull off being alert, however for the most part he was just as zombie like in the morning as Shima. Normally I’d have more patience - and I’d even find this amusing - but my instincts were screaming at me that there was something powerful here and I either needed to get rid of it, or get the hell out of dodge.

I was on edge and pissed. Fujimoto seemed way too at ease for a demon infestation that already has a body count. 

Just as before, the place was dead silent. No wind, no birds, not even a ripple in the pond. “Now I’m sure this doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it nonetheless. We will  _ not  _ be entering the barn as the demon might still be there. This is just a quick look to confirm the fact that the cows are no longer alive like the owners claimed they will be. After that there will be some time for group training. I want to work on some teamwork.” Yukio said brightly, still sipping from a mug of coffee. 

The thing that I learned rather quickly after living with Yukio (with Father Fujimoto being the only other one who was even remotely close to a morning person) was that while he was certainly  _ not  _ a morning person by any stretch of the definition, he woke rather quickly after drinking a couple sips of coffee. And when he was away he was almost annoyingly chipper. I was a morning person, but even I’m not that  _ happy to be alive _ at 8 in the morning. It’s unnerving to say the least. 

The exwires, who were now awake due to the coffee they'd all guzzled upon entering the dining room, were trudging along looking around at the scenery and actually taking in the sights. Izumo sidled up to me and yawned quietly. “You saw what the barn was like last night right?” She asked, crossing her arms across her chest. 

I nodded. “It was a mess. I have a bad feeling about what’s going to be there today. I don’t like this at all.”

Izumo snorted, rolling her eyes. “Are you sure it’s not just Father Fujimoto you don’t like? I see the looks he sends you. He’s obviously here in an attempt to keep you ‘in line’ or something equally stupid.” She paused, looking around and cataloguing where each of the others was walking in relevance to our own position. I smirked, she was learning fast. “Listen, I don’t like him either, but what are you planning?”

“No plan as of yet,” I shrug. “I just want to get out of this alive. I don’t think it will be anything too serious, but with these dingbats leading us, I don’t know how well that’s going to go.” I admit, attempting to be reassuring and ultimately failing. Well, I tried. She huffed, but dropped it, knowing she wasn’t going to get any more information from me. Partially because I don’t have any more information, but you know, same thing. 

I shake my head, laughing a little louder than what would be considered normal and getting the attention from the others. “You know, I feel like this will be a learning experience if nothing else.” I say, deliberately almost baiting the others. And Fujimoto. But mainly the Kyoto Trio. Same difference. “I’m certainly looking forward to training. It’s going to be a riot.” Izumo giggles. 

Then we finally made it to the barn, and as expected, it looked just as creepy as the night before. Although I had to admit that it looked and felt a lot less creepy in the bright morning light. But there wasn’t any noises either. Still no birds, and the small shuffling noises that had been there along with the thuds of movement yesterday, no longer existed. The only noise was provided by the loud and obnoxious Shima. As soon as he was awake enough to complain  _ that’s all he did _ . 

I was  _ this _ close to bashing his head in with the nearest sharp object. 

“Okay!” Yukio said brightly, obviously over his not-a-morning person grumps and ready to start his odd teacher persona thing. “So we’re not going to go  _ in  _ to the barn be cause that might end badly. The demon could still be there and we really don’t know how to defeat this one yet. Better not to risk it right?” he grinned, Shura standing beside him and glaring over the rim of her beer can. He smiled a little sheepishly at her but kept pushing forward, moving towards the barn door.

The door, which was firmly latched shut, swung open almost immediately after Yukio opened it. Unlike the foreboding silence of the world around us, this made a rather horrendous screeching noise as it swung open of its own accord. I winced, resisting the urge to put my hands over my ears in an effort to block out the sounds. My ears were uber sensitive so the sound that would normally suck for humans are even worse for me. Great. And to be fair to myself, some of the others actually  _ did _ cover their ears. And if they didn’t they certainly looked like they wanted to.

Why it swung open was quickly revealed when a body fell through it. The mangled cow lay on the ground, sending both fresh and drying blood onto the browning grass. All remaining traces of sleep quickly left the group at the sight and smell that greeted them upon the door’s opening. 

The skin was ripped apart with the edges of the wound ragged and bloodied. The innards of the animal had taken on an unnatural colour that one would associate with the long dead and they spilled out onto the grass in a grotesque manner. It was very reminiscent of pasta or sloppy joe’s - and that fact made me want to  _ never  _ eat those things again and bash my head against the wall for the comparison. 

Dammit brain. 

The girls - without Shura and with the addition of Shima - made disgusted gagging noises at the sight and turned away. Konekomaru looked like he was going to faint any second and Bon just squinted at the corpse. It was kind of disconcerting. I was really beginning to get concerned about Bon’s mental state. He was really beginning to set off the teen psychopath vibes. Or maybe that’s just me. I’ll ask Bitch-sensei about it later. She knows more about psychology than me.

Then Bon turned away from the corpse and did something that a  _ normal  _ human would do when confronted with a mangled corpse. He threw up all over the grass, pointedly not looking over at the barn or anyone else. Izumo snickered quietly before being elbowed by Shima. She shot his a glare, but thankfully stopped snickering. 

I’m all for being a dick to Bon - sometimes it's just  _ fun  _ you know? Being a dick just ‘cause you can - but this was not the time or place for that. Bon may have been a survivor of the Blue Night, but that in no way meant that he would be any good with corpses. At least I knew he wasn't some unaffected sociopath now. 

I was actually surprised that no one else reacted that way. I thought for sure Shiemi would faint, but she just dove into Yukio’s chest and hid her face. 

Yukio took a long look at the cow, staring deeply at the various rips and shreds of the skin around the cow. Then, gently shoving Shiemi off of him, he delivered and impressive kick to the corpse and sharply slammed the door closed being it. “Well that’s enough for today,” he decided, dusting off his hands and looking thoroughly grossed out. “Let’s move on to practice, shall we?” he smiles, trying valiantly to ignore what just happened. 

Shima, immediately jumping on the opportunity to forget  _ that  _ happened and to cheer up his friend, yelled happily, “yes! Let’s pretend that that never happened! We came, we saw that this place is indeed haunted,” he paused there, theatrically tapping a finger on his chin, “well the family  _ could  _ theoretically  just be murdering everything to mess with us…” seeing our highly unimpressed look he stopped with the questioning. “And now we can leave right?” he asked, a tone of desperation overtook his voice at the end of his question.

Fujimoto placed a hand gently on Shima’s shoulder. “Yes we can go to the field now.” he assured the pink haired teen. Then he turned to face the rest of us and plastered on his infamous (to me at the very least, Yukio’s wilting suggested that he had also seen it  _ way _ too many times) ‘haha I’m a goof ball that’s a secret badass old man’ smile. “We should be good to go. Why don’t we head over to the field over there,” he gestured, pointing out to the edge of the property, “and start sparring.” he suggested, calmly taking Shiemi and Shima by the shoulders and leading them towards said field.

Bon rolled his eyes (making a surprisingly speedy recovery and refusing to acknowledge his own weakness) but followed anyways, and Karasuma was the only one who decided to latch the barn door shut. Of course. I’ll probably go and investigate that later, but I should really get a head start on reading those journals or I won’t be able to get through them in a reasonable amount of time. I really don’t want to have to be here for longer than a week. Even that is pushing it.

I sigh heavily - discreetly of course - and began to trudge over to the field where Shura was pointing at people and kicking them into an open space to ‘spar’. I grumble as I plop down onto the grass beside Izumo and pull out the file that I’d started compiling on this case. Honestly it seemed like a waste, but keeping detailed notes on every event was important. This is one of those missions that can get messy really fast, even if it doesn't seem all that threatening. I don't like the vibe of anything here, and I plan on keeping detailed notes. 

This case might end up not turning into anything important, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't be useful to know later. I am definitely going to ask Ritsu to access some of the data files that the Tricksters had later this evening. Maybe we could solve this case faster with that added knowledge. Either way, organized notes were just kinda how I rolled. It pleases me to have everything in order. Kyoya claims I have an obsessive compulsive disorder, but he is infinitely worse so he has no room to talk. 

I learned from the best after all. 

I had just pulled out a pen and was beginning to ink in some notes when Fujimoto’s eyes landed on me. “Oi! Rin-chan! Why don't you and Bon come spar? I need to get a feel on all of your skills.” I scowl at him. Can't he see that I’m busy. 

“Maa maa, I’d rather not Fujimoto-san. As you can see, I’m making some notes on what just happened so that I can look for anything in the notebooks the ghost hunters left behind.” I explain, nonchalantly continuing to write the description of what I saw. I’d like to get pictures, but I doubt that that would go unnoticed. Fujimoto got a noticeable tick as his eyebrow twitched. 

Bon seemed equally unimpressed. “Ya! You don't just blow off the paladin, idiot! Man up and spar with me,” he sneered, standing cockily, “I bet that I can destroy you in 5 minutes.” While I liked to claim that I had a cool head, Bon just seemed to have a unique way of getting under my skin. Terasaka was arguably worse than this upstart, but I’d never gotten angry with him. 

It might have been because Terasaka knew my skills from the get go and respected me to some degree. He still called me out, but I never lost my cool. Nagisa was the only one with the privilege to do that. And that was because we were friends. I mean, at least Terasaka could actually give me a run for my money in a hand to hand fight. He was skilled and physically strong even if he wasn't the best in the intelligence department. He still seemed to be smarter than the Kyoto Trio. 

Maybe it had been too long since my last ‘night out’. I just wasn't getting the same kind of rush here as I did with my night job. I should really go check up on the club at some point. I loath to admit it (because while I love him, it is a major weakness that will at some point be used against me) but I miss Garry. I’d just got him back and already we’re being separated. 

I should probably check up on the club next time I have the chance. Maybe do a performance or two with the old gang, for old times’ sake. 

Anyways, point was, even without the training I got from Class E, I’d be able to woop Bon’s ass because he underestimates me. That and the fact that I was taking out people tougher than him when I was 12. Seriously, Bon was just asking for it. But even while knowing that I’m a dangerous demon, he was willing to try and fight me. That was just stupid. 

I raise an eyebrow, “really now,” I say, inwardly cursing my inability to not rise to a challenge. I wanted to prove him wrong so badly. The look on his face would be so worth the expended energy. “You’ve seen me fight, all of you have. And that wasn't even using all my skills. Do you really want to try this?” I ask, absolutely oozing condescension. 

Bon bristled, rising to the bait and getting into a ready stance. “Ha,” he scoffed, “I could take you any day.” At least he was confident. He could probably bluff his way out of a skirmish. Probably. 

I stand up, stretching lazily and dropping files on the ground beside Karasuma-sensei knowing he’d look over the information and include anything I forgot. I turn to look at Father Fujimoto and Yukio, placing my hands on my hips. “Are there any rules I need to… follow?” I snark, smirking at them with glee disguising my bemusement at the task at hand. 

Yukio frowned, opening his mouth to say  _ something  _ (probably about how this wasn't a good idea and that I was a loose cannon) but he was cut off by the old priest. He laughed uproariously and pasted on his version of the patented ‘good guy’ smile. “Stop short of a lethal blow and pull your more serious moves. Match stops with a yield or where a killing blow would be successful. Fight as if this were a real battle”

I smirked, “on your mark then.” I slouch a little, not making any move to pull out the katana that I had slung over my school uniform earlier this morning. Yukio nodded and Bon shifted in anticipation, and hungry smile beginning to grow on his face. 

“Ready, set, GO!” He yelled, blowing a whistle he'd pulled out of seemingly nowhere. 

Before Bon could move I reached behind me and whipped out my hand gun. Not the one that had the anti-demon ammunition or the anti-Korosensei, but the one that I use for my lower profile assassination targets. The one I keep on me at all times so that if I come up against dangers of the human kind it won't… be a problem. In an instant I have the safety off and the gun cocked and aimed at Bon’s head. “Dead.” I smirk. 

Bon’s look of surprise was just amazing as I’d imagined. 

Yukio just gawked for a moment before turning to Father Fujimoto. Fujimoto's smile had slipped off of his face at my quick win. “Rin-chan-” he begins but I cut him off before he can continue. 

“Okumura-san please.”

He twitched. “Okumura-san,” he corrected, “I believe I asked you to spar.” 

I cocked my head to the side, staring at him in feigned confusion. “Oh. I could swear you said to fight as if this were an actual battle. I simply did what I would do if I was confronted with an enemy; end the battle as soon as possible.” Fujimoto smiled serenely and began to formulate a response, but he was cut off once more. This time by Bon being a sore loser. 

“What?! That wasn’t a fair fight! You had a gun!” He exclaimed gesturing wildly. “I demand a rematch.”

I scoffed. No way in hell was I seriously going to spar with Bon. Not until he actually got his act together. “Um. How about no? I have research to do so we can gank this demon and get the hell out of here.” I said, putting my gun back in my waistband and turning around to get my files from Karasuma-sensei. “If you really want to see my fighting style to ‘analyze how to better teach me’” I said, making my air quotes rather obvious with my mocking tone of voice. “I’ll spar with Karasuma or Irina-sensei tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking that I'm going to try to update every two weeks. We'll see how that goes.


	12. Shura is a Bitch and so is Fujimoto, Just Saying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol what even is a verb tense? lmao

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I had bumped into Marin on my way inside the house, and she’d proceeded to dump a bunch of rumpled journals into his arms. “The first 2 are journals from the previous owners, the stacks under that are from the ghost hunters, and the final 3 are historical journals.” she’d said, then, she’d turned around and just walked off to do whatever it was she did with her time. I honestly don’t care about what she does, because I have a shit ton of work to do.

No matter how smart I am, there’s only so much I can read in a reasonable time frame. I’ll probably get Karasuma or Irina’s help when I look over things, however they’ll probably just be watching the sparring because they’re both teachers so they actually have to help. God, is this what they felt like when they had to help Class E before we were capable?

It was insufferable. 

So they were out until either they could get away, or the whole sparring session ended. That means I was on my own on the research front, at least until I could contact some of my er, contacts.  _ Someone  _ has to have heard of this before. Wait… I have my phone on me. I wasn’t going to do the stupid thing and forget that an internet connection was a thing. I have Ritsu! I quickly rushed over to the common area that Marin had told me we could use and proceeded to set everything up. I placed the books and papers in a stack on the floor and then grabbed my phone, quickly pulling up Ritsu.

“Karma-kun!” she yelled happily upon having her face appear on screen. “It’s been too long! What can I do for you?” she asked, staring intently at me. I grinned weakly in response but pushed forwards. Now was not the time to get nostalgic.

“Hi, Ritsu-chan. If I scanned some books would you be able to go through them and find anything that matches the files I have labeled  _ TrueCross-04Smith _ ?” I asked, already beginning to scan the pages of the historical journals. Luckily for us, the owner’s journals and the files the ghost hunters made were short, so I’d be able to get through them relatively easily. Ritsu nodded and smiled bright, getting right down to both translating, simplifying, and compiling as I scanned. 

It only took about 10 minutes for me to scan all 3 of the books and then I was burying my head in the journals. Marin had come and gone, dropping off a mug of something hot that I greatly appreciated as I did the equivalent of a wiki stream but in real life. I had no idea how much time had passed - sometime in the middle of things Marin had dropped off some food and I’d decided to summon some little dolls. They worked like those stupid shadow clones from Naruto (I blame Kayano for my knowledge of anime) so I remembered what they saw. Pretty good for reconnaissance. I’d be able to get through the materials much faster like this.

By the time I surfaced from where I was analyzing journals and notes as well as making my own, the others had begun trickling in.

I lifted my head up and handed the files over the Karasuma-sensei as soon as he took a seat on the couch beside my head. I had been sitting on the floor for what must have been hours and leaning back against the cushions felt real nice right now. As I shifted slightly, I realized that I was literally covered in dolls in various stages of research. Some were asleep (I totally get that, reading these historical journals was mind numbing) and some were just reading over a single paper over and over. One was even trying to type something on my phone. 

There was so many, and I know that I hadn’t summoned all of them consciously. I must not have as much control over my powers as I thought. Irina giggled slightly as she scooped up one of the stray dolls, stroking it like it was a small cat… kitten. She then took the chance to perch herself directly behind me, pulling up her legs so she wouldn’t accidentally kick me. The both of them immediately began conversing with Ritsu and looking over the notes that I had been making. 

Not caring about where the others currently were - honestly if I were them, I’d have gone straight to have a shower after being outside in the sun and doing something physically demanding - I grabbed my still full (maybe Marin refilled it when I wasn’t looking) mug of what must have been hot chocolate. Holding it by the handle, I held it above my other hand and created a small flame to heat it up. Why waste time getting up to heat it up when I could just use my powers?

I am lazy I know. But that’s fine with me.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” A voice thundered from behind me. I turned around to see Fujimoto standing in the doorway looking very put out with his hands on his hips and everything. I look slowly from my cup to my hand and back to the man standing in the doorway.

“Maa, Fujimoto-san,” I say carelessly, “what’s the big deal? I’m just heating up a cup of hot chocolate. It’s not like I’ll burn the house down.” I grumble, sipping the now steaming mug of chocolate goodness. He glared at me and opened his mouth and I can tell he’s going to start ranting.

“Actually you could! You have no idea how dangerous this is, you haven’t even begun to master your powers and you want to use them for something so stupid! Those flames have killed before! You need to grow up and be responsible, you’re not just handling your life in this balance anymore.” he yelled, waving his hands around and smacking Shima in the face as he tried to get past him into the room.

I narrowed my eyes, “Excuse you, I have great control over my powers, thank you very much” I continue to grumble, not really caring about his opinion at this point. I was fucking tired and so not prepared to deal with this shit. “And it’s none of your fucking business?? I’ve been doing actual work to solved this damn case, so if I want some hot chocolate that’s actually hot then I’m going to use my stupid flames for something useful.” I snarl, getting hella territorial.

Irina smacks me on the back of my head and scolds me for my language in English. I mumble some more before sipping my drink and pointedly ignoring everyone else. Fujimoto was just left spluttering in the doorway and everyone sort of just did the weirdest version of the limbo that I’ve ever seen to get around the stunned priest. 

I was actually impressed.

Everyone just sort of plopped down in various places around the room and stared at me expectantly. Bon decided to be himself and was an asshole, “well since you decided to skip out on training - which you could clearly use if your idea of winning is pulling a gun on someone - did you at least discover something that could solve this case?” he sneered, leaning back into his seat in a self satisfied manner, clearly thinking that this little remark was going to do damage.

“Okay, first of all, I’m not the one who needs extra training because I can handle my own conditioning and really I haven’t been rusty or out of shape in years. Second of all, it’s not about how flashy or grand you are, who wins is decided by who survives. Third of all, I’ve been doing my best with what little information I have; there’s only so much work one person can do by themselves in a couple hours. But-” I cut off, pulling up my phone and sending them all the files that I’d made, “as it were, I do have some condensed notes made, so make of it what you will.”

As one, everyone’s phones chimed, setting off many different ringtones. Konekomaru pulled out his phone in confusion as the others started to catch on. “H-how did you even get our numbers?” he asked in confusion as he began to look over the files that he had received. 

“I had Ritsu-chan send them over. She’s an AI and has her ways.” I admit, leaning back against the couch and looking up at Karasuma as he closed the hard copy of the files. 

“I’ve personally never seen anything like this before, but I’ll see if I can ask around.” he said loud enough for the room at large to hear. Then without moving his lips he proceeded to whisper at a level that only Irina and my own sensitive ears would pick up. “Akabane, I assume you’ve already called people?” he asked, the end of his sentence sort of drifting off as he was reluctant to reveal more than necessary. I nod ever so slightly, leaning back further.

“Yes, I should have some callbacks tomorrow morning.” I murmur, beginning to absentmindedly pet one of the dolls on my lap like a freakin’ Bond villain. By now the others had begun looking through the files and some people had even begun to drift off either from sheer boredom of the contents of what they were reading (I had worded it in a very clinical way, not to mention the fact that the descriptions of wounds were rather gruesome) or from the fact that they really weren’t used to sparring for long periods of time and at a higher level. 

I one hundred percent expect that Fujimoto and Yukio worked the cram classes asses off.

I reluctantly move to stand up, dumping the little doll demons on the floor with an audible series of thumps. That seems to shock everyone out of their stupors and they all started shifting around, walking towards the rooms in a zombie like fashion. I snicker softly, but I wanted to get a head start on sleep myself. I was going to actually show off tomorrow because I’m an arrogant fuck but at least I can back it up. Gotta Mary Sue this shit up, man.

Fuck yeah.

 

* * *

The next morning we had all forgone breakfast in favour of grabbing something and quickly heading out to the field bright and early. Seriously, the sun hadn’t even risen yet. The girls were still yawning and I think I saw Shiemi sleeping on the ground, but early morning is always the best time to spar. Despite popular belief, I could be a morning person… sometimes. 

Sometimes I was actually alert in the morning, plus sunrise was one of my favourite times of the day. The sun may help me, but darkness brought stealth- an assassin's dream ya know. Why go to the extra trouble when nature does it for you. We all form a loose circle (some of the cram class kids choosing to sit down and begin to drift off due to how early in the morning it was) and I swagger into the centre of it cockily.

I got into a crouch, not even bothering to pull out a weapon yet, although I did have Kurikara with me, because I knew that this would start off as hand to hand and would only involve weapons when one of us got fed up with the fight being one sided - because despite my ability, I did know that I wasn’t as good at fighting hand to hand as Karasuma-sensei was. He did teach me after all.

That’s of course when Fujimoto had to ruin everything. “Actually, I’d prefer if you’d spar with Shura here.” he said simply, he said it like a suggestion, but judging by all the uncomfortable shifting that Yukio was doing, it was meant as an order. Although it irked me, I decided to humor him. “So that it is fair, you understand. Can’t have Karasuma-san going easy on you!” he said brightly. God, did this man have any other emotions other than happiness, fatherly disappointment, and exaggerated horror?

“If you insist,” I said theatrically, grinning that demonic grin that just seemed to piss off teachers. I figured it would work well enough here. Couldn’t really deny it, I loved chaos. 

Shura rolled her eyes as stepped forward, throwing off the small jean jacket she’d thrown on at the Smith’s look of disapproval earlier that morning. “You’re real smug now kid, but you’ll soon be rethinking your opinions.” she said, glaring at me. 

I scoffed, did she really want to go there? “Yeah, I’ll realize that I overestimated your skill.” Now I do realize that she is skilled and she has earned her position and rank, however, I knew my own skill too. She was no demon, I should be able to handle her in a spar. Heck, Nagisa would utterly destroy her in a spar without a weapon. I was very tempted to pull my guns out again, but that would defeat the purpose in actually sparring Shura.

She seemed to have authority issues, especially since I wasn’t effectively under her thumb. I suspect this story would have turned out a lot different had I not known about my powers or had any intelligence or skill. She probably would have taken on a more mentor like attitude, secure in her place and skill. But I was just the type of person who’d ruffle her feathers. As Rin, I might have given a shit. 

As Akabane Karma, I couldn’t care less.

She growled at me and eagerly awaited Yukio’s signal to begin the match. I lazily pulled out a knife that I’d had modeled after the knives we’d used on Korosensei (honestly Class E was just so used to the weight of them and how they handled that we were just more comfortable using the weapons that the government had provided us with; I know I had my gun modeled in the same way, it just handled better) and twirled it, taunting her to come at me.

Just to add insult to injury, I actually taunted her. “Come at me bro.” I grin, doing the come hither motion that was so cliche it had stopped being funny about 12.73 decades ago, but you know what I’m a badass so I can get away with this shit okay.

She took the bait and lunged towards me taking out her sword and slashing. I swear, every time I think that she’s gotten over her sudden irrational hatred (seriously she was fine when she was trying to ‘train’ me with my powers way back when, but the second that I’m actually skilled everything changes) she pulls something like this and wants to kill me. Talk about mixed messages. But I honestly didn’t like her either so… I mean.

I lurched out of the way, smiling brightly as she recovered fast and turned her sword as she twirled. If nothing else I could admit that she was graceful. No matter how aggressive her style was, it held a certain grace with it. She soon got annoyed with me constantly dodging her attacks and she started getting more serious. 

Before her aim had been just to injure if any of her hits actually landed, now they were more aiming for kill shots, especially with the force behind them. Having enough of it I pull out Kurikara and meet her blow, stopping it with ease. She may be strong, but I was half demon. No matter how skinny or lean I look, I have enhanced strength. Genetic win.

We exchanged blows for a moment, turning the spar into more of a dance than a fight - honestly at this point I was actually beginning to enjoy this purely because she was actually proving to be a decent challenge, I mean she was no Nagisa or Kayano, but she was good. She’d earned her rank.

We continued this way for what felt like seconds but was probably closer to half an hour based off the fact that the sun had risen, but then she decided to play dirty and the previously legitimate smile on my face dropped into an equally legit snarl. Out of fucking nowhere, she pulled a damn holy water bomb and set it off. 

As a human, she was completely unaffected, however it felt like that one time that Okuda spilled acid on my arm. This hurt like a bitch and I lost hissed as I lurched backwards, unable to resist the urge to wipe at my face frantically. 

Play time was fucking over, she had entered fucking bitch territory now. Fuck her man. She used those few seconds that I was frantically hissing to take a breather and plan how to move. Unfortunately for her, I was pissed and much faster than she was. In a split second I lunged forward and grabbed her neck, pulling her into a choke hold before she could even realize that I had moved.

From where I held her in a choke hold, I leaned up to whisper in her ear like a classic movie villain while everyone else in the room held their breath and tried to listen in. "You wouldn't be the first teacher I've killed." I whispered before backing away. Grinning evilly at her shocked expression. I have a flare for dramatics, what can I say. 

I pulled possibly the fakest innocent face I’ve ever done in my life as I turned back to mock her. “What? With all the talk about how I’m a no good monster just like my dad, you’d think you wouldn’t be surprised to find out I had a less than stellar past. You know I didn’t grow up with Yukio, or did you forget in your simple minded hate?” I smiled poisonously at them. Even after all the time that had passed (really it hadn’t been all that much but whatever) you’d think I would have gotten over it. 

But I  _ had _ held a grudge against all teachers for years after that one teacher had betrayed me in middle school. Heck, I still hate teachers. Who  _ actually _ likes teachers? 

But still I was lashing out. Hmm, I really needed to see Garry after this damn sham of a mission was over. I needed to burn off some steam. Being cooped up with idiots wasn’t doing me any good. “What do you think I  _ did  _ in middle school?” I asked rhetorically. Inwardly cackling as Yukio paled and glanced at Karasuma in concern. Bitch-sensei grinned sharply as she filed her nails.

Father Fujimoto looked extra concerned as he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. This was more than fatherly disappointment, no, this was fatherly disappointment™. “Rin… what do you mean by that?” he said slowly carefully approaching me as if I was a dangerous animal. 

I let the emotion slip off my face, leaving it a blank mask which looked to seriously be freaking out Shima. He was literally curling into himself and staring at the face off with a combination of anticipation and horror. Quite like that of a horror movie junkie who was somehow still affected by the bad films. “Eh?” I said, confusion colouring my voice. 

For a minute he fell for it, but then I couldn’t resist it and broke character by smiling like the cat that caught the canary. “Yukio  _ must  _ have told you by now,” I start, placing my twin brother in a very hard place if he hadn’t been a good little exorcist and reported me. “I wasn’t exactly sent to you because my guardians were killed by Satan. That was a blatant lie because they’ve been dead for years.” Oh how I love being deliberately ambiguous so that they would draw their own conclusions which would of course, be way worse than the reality.

Fujimoto looked like the rug had just been pulled from under his feet at my admission. Aw, he was one of those ‘there’s still good in you’ kind of people. Of course, this was when Bitch-sensei lived up to her name and chose to intervene. “Ne, Rin-kun isn’t wrong. I  _ was  _ one of his teachers during his final year at Kunugikaoka, I would know.” her smile was razor sharp.

Surprisingly, it was Konekomaru that spoke next, asking the question that the others must have been  _ dying _ to ask. “W-what did y-y-you t-teach?” he stuttered, his eyes shifting from person to person nervously. I would have almost been impressed had he not stuttered. 

Irina grinned, flicking her nail file so that it revealed the knife she’d had hidden in it. “Have you forgotten already, Konekomaru-chan? I’m an assassin, what do you  _ think  _ I was teaching Rin-kun. His teacher was a target that I wouldn’t have been able to take out. Rin-kun just happened to be the best of his class.”

There was an awkward silence in the field as everyone sort of just stared at each other, trying to comprehend what had just happened. That’s when a ringing sound broke the silence. Everyone sort of did the obligatory pocket pat as they tried to figure out who’s phone it was and I sheathed my katana quickly, knowing that it was my phone that had gone off. I pull it out, checking the caller ID and cursing. It was my contact with the exorcists, and it wasn’t exactly like they knew about that yet. 

“I need to take this,” I scowl, beginning to walk away from the group for at least a semblance of privacy. But it seems that Shura had recovered from her shock at being defeated and was ready to be a bitch about it. 

“Hey!” she yelled, “You can take that call here.” I scowled at her, glaring in displeasure. She was really going to do this, wasn’t she. A quick glance at Karasuma-sensei showed that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help me - he could only show so much favouritism before the others decided to do something about it. Yukio frowned before sternly turning to me.

“Honestly Rin, what could really be so important you need to take it right now? It’s not like it’s going to be something bad, just answer it here.” he dismissed, clearly not seeing the invasion of privacy this was. This was basically the equivalent of the teacher reading notes passed in class out loud. Like I get why, doesn’t mean I’m not pissed about it.

“Fine,” I hiss, silently thinking that this would look so much cooler if I had a flip phone like in the animes and putting the phone on speaker - because I’m just a glutton for punishment. If something was revealed, so be it. I hit the answer button and started off the conversation with “you’re on speaker Baez, watch what you say.” 

Before Baez - yes I do have caller ID, I know which one of my contacts was calling, and of fucking course it had to be the smart ass that was Ryan Baez; he was an American exorcist that I had met on one of my… trips to North America, he was interested in the gig and in exchange for resources and protection, he’d provide information and favours - could respond, Yukio spoke up. Again.

“What do you mean by ‘watch what you say’, Rin?” he snapped, clearly beginning to lose his patience with my very existence at this point. 

I sneered, “well, Baez doesn’t exactly have the cleanest mouth on him, I doubt that a lady like Shiemi-” I break off, staring pointedly at the girl who had yet again curled herself into my brother’s side. “Would like to hear anything like that.” I drawl, challenging him to disagree. He scowled, done with losing to me, but didn’t say anything else.

Baez took this as his chance to start talking. “ _ Hey Boss!”  _ he yelled, and I wince, actually glad that I didn’t have to pull the phone away from my ear with how loud the man talked. “ _ The class talk you in ta sharin’? _ ” he asked, the grin in his voice obvious. 

I roll my eyes, “get on with it Baez, why are you calling now? You know what time it is here.” Fuck, I’m just dropping all the hints now. This class must be fucking stupid to not have figured  _ something _ out by now. Seriously, what even. Is this what people would consider plot armour?

Baez immediately sobered up, “ _ Yeah boss, I know, but I’ve got news, and you’re not going to like it.”  _ he said seriously, a foreboding hint in his words. Great, could this day get  _ any _ worse??? I was about to find out, that yes it could.


	13. We Find Out What We're Fighting? What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, someone else's p.o.v? Amazing... also literally nothing happens, I'm so sorry

Yukio P.O.V

“ _ Yeah boss, I know, but I’ve got news, and you’re not going to like it.”   _ A disembodied voice said from the phone. It sounded young, and had a noticeable american accent despite the man speaking in fluent Japanese. Clearly it was for our benefit that he was speaking in Japanese, since I knew that Rin took advanced English and spoke it like it was his first language. I’d heard him, and he spoke it with a smarmy smile on his face the entire time.

It was crazy. But, then Rin was too. He was just insane. He  _ killed  _ his old teacher from Kunugikaoka?  _ That _ was why he’d come to live at the monastery? It was just… inconceivable. Rin truly was a demon, and you could see that in the pure joy that graced Rin’s features whenever he showed anyone up or gave a pretty good comeback. He just couldn’t hide it behind his false smiles. He might think that he has true control over his facial expression and that he was some badass, but what he was was just sick.

How could someone just  _ enjoy  _ messing with people? It wasn’t right. 

He was my twin brother. By all rights, we should have grown up together, and maybe I would have - still could - ended up like him. I was a son of Satan too, even if I didn’t receive any physical demonic traits. 

But back to this mysterious Baez character. Who was he? Why did he have Rin’s cell phone number?  _ I  _ didn’t even have his number. How did he even meet Rin? From what I gathered, he had a lot of secrets, but it sounded like Rin knew Baez well, so he had to have met him a while ago. But… Rin was only 14… how did he even have time to do anything but study? 

No matter how much of an asshole Rin was, he was a smart asshole. He had made it into the scholarship no problem, and he didn’t even seem to be struggling with school. From what I’ve heard, even Shiratori Reiji was leaving him alone  _ and _ he was friends with the Sugino Tomohito and his boyfriend baseball superstar Shindou Kazutaka. Everyone knew that they had come from Kunugikaoka, but by all rights they never should have interacted with each other.

Sugino had been part of the E Class - seriously the failures of the school - but something had happened in third year and all of the Class E students had hit the top 50 in the middle school. Still, Shindou was a national class baseball player that was already being scouted for professional teams.

Rin was a gangster who like to  _ cook _ and apparently had a passion for art. What.

This was too big of a mess and too many subtle revelations. We had so many puzzle pieces  _ but none of them were fitting together dammit. _ I can’t figure out what is happening with my twin brother, but Father Fujimoto obviously wasn’t handling things as well as he could have. I don’t think that Rin holds any resentment towards Father because of being given up at 6 years old, but he certainly didn’t hold any positive feelings towards him either.

I wasn’t even sure what his stance on me was either. It was unnerving to just not know things about him. He lived with us for the entire summer, and all that I learned that was true about him was that he was good at cooking and art. Literally just skills. His entire personality had been fake, and he’d shed it like a fake skin as easily as if it had been water. He’d done so much shit, how did he find the time to become someone’s ‘boss’. 

Baez was a mystery and not a good one. It didn’t sound like he had good news either. Rin’s face had closed off as he held the phone delicately in his hand. “Spit it out Baez, I don’t have time for your usual shenanigans and you know it. I want this thing gone and fast.” You could practically hear the eye roll that Baez did before responding. 

_ “Fine, whatever you want boss. The problem is I’ve never seen or heard of anything like what you showed me - these types of things don’t really come round my neck o’ the woods. So I contacted some people that I know in Japan, your Vatican guy might have heard of him.”  _ he drawled, and then there was some audible shuffling as Baez seemingly reached for something.  _ “Anyways, Nakamura claims that he’s killed one of those things. He says it’s something called a Jikininki. It’s a flesh eating ghost that occurs when someone greedy dies and ‘they’re punished by staying on earth to hunger for human flesh’ which has to be the  _ worst _ way to word it.”  _ You could practically hear the air quotes he was using on the description.

It  _ was _ a pretty stupid way to phrase it, however it fit with some of the legends that the other priests at the monastery used to tell. Rin frowned, his red eyebrows furrowed creating a shadow over his molten gold eyes. Why did I notice that? His eyes just seemed to be shifting, they do that when he finds something interesting. I’d only seen that look about two times in class, he was usually bored with what I had to say, and I couldn’t even falter him for it because he always managed to get everything perfect even without paying all that much attention.

“Okay, so how do we kill it. You said Nakamura was successful, right? What do we need to do?” he demanded, ignoring us and the shocked gasp Shiemi let out when 

_ “It’s not quite a ghost or a demon, but the one you have is pretty old judging from the extent of the damage and how it only kills off some small prey. Nasty stuff man,”  _ Baez said, going off on a slight tangent before returning to the point as if sensing Rin losing his patience. 

(Usually Rin was better with his temper, even after the whole reveal. He’d still been almost infuriatingly calm, but everything about this case just seemed to set him off. Maybe this was a symptom of the strange 6th sense that demons seemed to possess. Rin was just reacting to the atmosphere and the powers. He’d been snapping at people left and right, and this was one of the only times I’ve seen him actually deign to fight someone or even follow orders.)

_ “Nakamura tried a lot of shit to get rid of this thing man,”  _ He said, momentarily forgetting to ‘watch his mouth’ and a nervous tone took over his voice. He spoke in a  disbelieving manner, like this was a thing that he wouldn’t want to cross.  _ “You sure that you’re on a school trip, bss? Usually you guys don’t deal with the ones that have a body count. That damn exwire exam of yers was a fluke, that shouldn’t’a happened.”  _ Baez asked, the nervous lilt of his voice descending into a full on panicked ramble.

Rin, surprisingly handled this with patience. “I’ve been asking that myself,” he admitted, “but we had some full fledged exorcists, and the higher ups were probably aware of my involvement last time. The records should still be unsealed. How do we kill it Baez?” he asked again, turning the conversation back to the main topic on instinct. No sign of impatience for the rambling man on the phone.

_ “Well boss, hopefully this won’t be too hard for you. Only way that we’ve found to kill it is fire. Burn it down, if ya can, burn the entire barn down and have y’ur priest bless the grounds. That’s all you can do, sorry that I couldn’t give you more.”  _ there was a sigh, and some more shuffling and clinking from the other side.  _ “I can’t tell you how it will materialize, but it’s gonna be dangerous. Be careful, eh boss?”  _ There was a nervous giggle, and the sound of a closing book. 

Rin’s upper lip curled slightly in what might have been a smile had he not realized and schooled his facial expression. “I will Baez. If you hear anything more, call me.” He said, then abruptly hung up and shoved his phone into a pocket. “Well then,” he grinned, “you heard him, we have a way to kill our demon. Who’s up for some  _ hunting _ .” he said, grinning as he turned and began walking towards the house.

“Where are you going!” I called, confused about what just happened. Rin stopped once more, frustration and… anticipation almost radiating off of his form. 

“What do you think?” he called back, continuing to move towards the house as Karasuma-san, Jelavich-san, and Izumo all moved to follow Rin. “I’m going to talk to our lovely hosts about burning down their barn, then I’m going to grab some gear and gank the son of a bitch haunting this place.” he said in a matter of fact tone. 

I turned to face Father Fujimoto, opening my mouth to ask a question - what I really don’t know, but he clearly understood my confusion and thought ahead. “If what this mysterious third party has said is true, then I suggest we all get our weapons and prepare to enter the barn. I believe we will have to deal with the demon before destroying the barn. I’d suggest not wearing your school uniform. I suspect that things will get quite messy today.” The class all looked at him with some doubt on their faces, however they all began to move to follow the directions given by the exorcist who was supposed to have been leading this mission.

But yet again, Rin simply couldn’t resist taking charge of yet another mission. He just seemed to believe that we were all idiots and that we couldn’t handle anything by ourselves.

What a fucking dick. 

How were we even related?

 

* * *

 

Izumo P.O.V

So, after Rin’s epic spar with Shura - seriously I knew that he was a badass, but the way he just toyed with Shura just emphasized the fact that we were outclassed… and just how many secrets he was keeping - we all headed back into the area of our house that we were temporarily occupying. Rin had gone off to go talk to the Smith’s about property destruction and whatnot, while the rest of us decided to change. 

We probably should have told Rin about changing, but he probably had a change of clothes on below his uniform. (Also the fact that he held that epic duel  _ while in our stupid restricting school uniforms  _ just made everything more impressive. And he was taught by Karasuma-sensei and Jelavich-sensei, so maybe we’d be able to fight like that at one point too). I really wasn’t all that worried about how Rin was planning on dealing with this. 

I was kind of just glad for it to be over. I don’t like school anymore than the next person, however it has to be better than this. We’ve literally spent less than 3 days here, and I’m already pretty much done with this entire thing. I just want to go home and back to our routine of classes. This was almost boring, like you’d think that a field trip would actually be somewhat interesting, right? Nope.

It just grates against your nerves because there’s the ever present sense of danger, but with nothing actually happening, the anticipation just sort of just falls short. We’ve only ever seen the end result, and nothing direct has happened yet, so the anticipation just keeps building and I feel fucking useless.

Both Father Fujimoto and Yukio seemed content to just run some stupid training exercises and lecture us on basic demon anatomy. I feel like a lot of that isn’t all that necessary here? We didn’t even know what the fucking demon we were hunting was. It was so stupid, why didn’t they just let us help Rin when he left?

I get that everyone save Karasuma-sensei, Jelavich-sensei, and myself has some sort of issue with the fact that Rin is half demon and just happens to be the son of satan. However, he’s the only one who seems to have an idea on what to do. Was this meant to be some sort of test to see if we could handle ourselves? Well it fucking sucked because we had a total of 5 teachers who were all supposedly very capable. 

Someone had actually died. Again. (Why were we handling this again? Was our class cursed? Seriously this has to be breaking some sort of rule or law or  _ something _ )  _ why did they believe that it would be a good idea for STUDENTS to handle this.  _ Sound reasoning I’m sure.

But I just wanted this to be over. Was becoming a damn exorcist worth this? I don’t even know, it was weird and things were changing at the drop of a hat. One minute we were just training and not learning, and the next Rin had a solution. Was he able to accomplish that much yesterday while we were dying in the heat? Maybe we could have helped him or something, like read through those journals he asked for. 

Anything but pointless sweating in the sun because half of us didn’t even get to train more than once. Sure we found out that it was pointless because Rin had to contact outside help, but I would have felt like I was doing something. But speaking of that outside help, who even was it? How did Rin have the time to contact them, and where did this original information even come from? Wasn’t everything just a little  _ too  _ convenient?

Would things really be that easy? Of course they wouldn’t. 

We had all gone to grab our individual weapons from our rooms, Moriyama and myself simply grabbing our summoning papers, while Shura and Jelavich-sensei just stood at the entrance of the room and watched us. “Izumo-chan! Why don’t you take the can of hairspray from my bag and the lighter that’s on the side table.” She suggested not unkindly. 

I frowned for a moment, thinking about what on earth we’d need hairspray of all things for, but then I nearly smacked myself in the forehead when I realized. Of course, any aerosol spray thing can be used as a makeshift flame thrower. Considering Rin was the only one among us who had flames of his own, and that fire was the only thing known to kill the… jikininki? having some fire power of our own would be a good idea.

I nodded and grabbed the things she asked for, handing Moriyama, Jelavich-sensei’s lighter because I had my own small lighter. I’d started carrying one after the mission that Paku was lost on, not wanting to be caught without something destructive. Fire was fascinating, it could both provide warmth and comfort as well as destroy everything.

Moriyama frowned and looked at the small device sitting in her palm. “Um, Kamiki-san?” she whispered hesitantly, being the timid person that she is. It pissed me off so fucking much, but Rin hadn’t done anything about it so far, so I’d followed his lead and let it be.

(I didn’t really like the idea of acting like a lackey, but Rin seemed to have been navigating social situations deliberately much longer than I have  _ despite us being the same age _ . Even while being an asshole around everyone but the cram class - I’d heard some things from Shindou-san about how he acted in class, and wow was it not the way that Rin had acted around the cram class before he’d been outed - he still managed to have people trailing after him and looking at him in awe. He was charismatic in all the right ways and somehow managed to twist everything into working in his favour. I figure I can learn  _ something  _ from him. He may be an asshole, but he was more like the friendly neighbourhood asshole as opposed to the psychotic murdering asshole.)

“Yes?” I drawled, shedding my dress shirt and throwing an old sweater over my undershirt, trading my skirt for a pair of shorts too. I continued to dig around, pulling out some boots and packing my dress shoes away. I figure that if all goes to plan (which it won’t) then we’ll probably be leaving later today. It was still daylight out - it wasn’t even 11 am yet - we should be able to get back sometime around dusk if we book it.

“Why do I need this lighter?” Moriyama’s light voice drifted over from the corner of the room. She hadn’t changed all that much, choosing a simple cream yukata - oh honey that was gonna  _ stain _ if something got on it - instead of something more sensible. But to each their own. Neither Shura or Jelavich-sensei had changed much either. Jelavich-sensei had simply shrugged out of her jacket and picked up a gun with a weird modifier on the end. 

Shura literally wore a too small bikini top and a too small jean shorts. She’d be fine anyways. Probably wouldn’t even wash off blood if it got all over her. That bitch.  _ How much of my hate for her was how bad her teaching methods were or how much she seemed to hate Rin.  _

I rolled my eyes before turning back towards Moriyama. “In case you skipped out on the last 15 minutes, Moriyama, the only thing that’s going to work against the thing that we’re here to kill is fire. I figure, since your only defense is a small green man who can grow some vines, if might be useful to have  _ something _ to protect you.” Rin would have said something snarky, like add ‘sweet cheeks’ after it or something. Why am I so obsessed with his every action?

What was so damn intense about him. Why drew people to him.

Dammit, not the point.

Moriyama looks down, and shuffles out of the room. I roll my eyes, stalking out after the other girl to make my way towards the barn. The boys should have been done by now. Shura and Jelavich-sensei following after. Shura stomping her way through the halls without a care, and Jelavich-sensei gliding as graceful as the assassin she was in high heels. 

Either way, no matter how this would go down, it would end in just a couple hours. Funny.


	14. The Jikininki

Rin P.O.V

Luckily, the talk with the Smith’s didn’t take all that long, and losing a that old bloodstained barn is more than worth the having us take care of the demon. I feel like if they ever wanted to sell the property that tearing down the barn would be the first thing to do. People don’t really like to buy property where people were murdered. Or maybe that’s just me.

So with the go ahead, I just made my way out to the barn. Despite the fact that the conversation went relatively fast, I knew that the cram class wouldn’t want to wait for me to change. It wasn’t like this would be the first time I’ve washed blood out of a school uniform. Although, this one was surprisingly a better quality than the ones that we had a Kunugikaoka. 

That was possibly due to the fact that it was a middle school, and partially because it was Class E. Only the highest quality for the shame of the school. Can you hear the sarcasm? Beautiful. I’m hilarious, shut up. So being the person that I am, I’m going to go into this head first. You see, without Nagisa to be my conscious and with everyone grating on my nerves, I’m not all that great at making decisions.

This shouldn’t be all that bad, I mean I can do this and no one should die. A quick check with Ritsu on my way over confirmed that if everything goes well, then this demon shouldn’t be all that dangerous. It hadn’t killed all that recently, so it won’t be as strong as if it had eaten human flesh the night before. Cow flesh was different, that’s what allowed it to survive. It was the human flesh that actually allowed it to gain power,

Sure we would have had better chances if it hadn’t killed that squatter, but you can’t change the past. It is how it is, and now we’re fucked. I jog lightly towards the barn, the katana strapped to my back bouncing lightly and probably bruising one of my shoulder blades. I’ve always bruised easily, but I had a high tolerance for pain, this shouldn’t be that much of a problem but wow off topic. 

Luckily for me, I made it there just in time for Bon to be the only one tapping his toe in impatience. A great improvement! I’m honestly surprised that Shura hadn’t relapsed and done the full bitch routine again. She was either mature enough to realize that being petty was useless in the face of our current situation  _ or _ she was still reeling from the match and had a strong chance of being a liability when we actually get into the barn. 

I’m thinking it’s the latter but maybe that’s just me. 

“So, good news! We have full permission to burn down the entire barn!” I say happily, clapping my hands together and grinning evilly, the likes of which I hadn’t done since I got to shove hot sauce up that assassin’s nose. It quickly transformed into a pout, “but unfortunately according to some more info Baez just shot me, if we just burn it down first then there’s a chance we won’t get the Jikininki. So into the barn we go.” 

Bitch-sensei rolled her eyes and began fiddling with her handgun. “Maa, Rin-chan. I don’t want to stay at this run down country house any longer than we have to. Let’s get a move on.” she said, almost coyly. I couldn’t really blame her though. 

Bon rolled his eyes, “well let’s get a move on then! We’ve been waiting forever Okumura.” he grumbled. I raised an eyebrow.

“Well why don’t you kick down the door then?” I tease, He turns away, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away to the side. He huffed but didn’t say anything further. I shrugged before sending an imploring look towards Karasuma-sensei. He narrowed his eyes at me - almost in a reprimanding manner - but moves towards the barn nonetheless.

Apparently we’d all forgotten about the disgusting cow corpse that was leaning against the door because as soon as Karasuma-sensei kicked open the barn door and it collapsed onto the still bloodstained earth  _ again,  _ everyone reacted like it was such a surprise. Every time I think ‘hey maybe they might be smart today’ they do something stupid and remind me why I didn’t have much faith in them in the first place. 

Why is this my life? I’m actually missing dealing with Terasaka and his gang of idiots. It’s really a pain when the E Class of a school is easier to deal with than rich students of higher intelligence. Wow.

Honestly it’s gotten to the point where it’s no longer comical and instead just annoying. I honestly cannot wait until this fucking school year is up. Screw whatever the Vatican wants, as soon as this year is over I’m out. Shura and Fujimoto should be able to handle any signs of demonic nature in Yukio, and I am just done with all of this. 

Seriously, Asano (both of them) was easier to deal with. At least he was a challenge, this is just an exercise in frustration.

You know, we did a lot of stupid things in Class E, and a lot of them probably had a high chance of killing me. However, in literally less than a couple months, I’ve been put into way more hazardous situations than I signed up for. Humans I can deal with. Even mutated-octopus-human-monster-assassin things I can deal with. Apparently teenage exorcists just aren’t in my books. Also fucking demons. 

Unknown variables that I really don’t want to deal with. It’s like dividing by zero but instead of getting 2 = 1 (or some other dumbass answer) like you should, I've fucked up and managed to get 1 = 1. I know it’s a bad metaphor. I get it, but that doesn’t make it any less true. 

(If Orwell can put 2 + 2 = 5 into one of his books and spark an entire hour long debate on the meaning of having it be 2 + 2 instead of 1 + 1 or day and night or more bullshit, then this can happen. Fuck math class.)

Just… demons okay. Not cool. Even if I have powers that are pretty badass. I can be a bamf on my own thank you very much. 

I mean if Nagisa can do it so can I. I was a bamf long before Class E anyways. 

Back to the point. I roll my eyes before stepping around the cow and going into the barn. “Guys, we’ve been through this. Let’s just get this shit over with so that we can go back to True Cross and never go on another mysterious mission again.” I suggest, lighting my hand on fire and moving forward. “Oh yeah, and next time we’re getting all the facts before we take a mission. No body counts allowed for those who aren’t even licensed exorcists yet. Seriously, above the pay grade mi amigos.” I say flippantly, quite frankly just pissed. 

Every fucking time. We’ve taken like 6 missions (if you can even count some of the more basic and unmentioned tasks as missions) and way too many of them have included either a body count or something life threatening. THIS WAS AN INTRODUCTORY CLASS BEING TAUGHT BY A 16 YEAR OLD. HOW EVEN.

woo rage. 

Karasuma and Irina fell in step behind me, each of them holding their weapons in front of them in preparation for threats, falling into the instinctive step one of clearing the room before proceeding. The others nervously trudged in behind us. Upon entering the barn, I immediately regretted every decision that lead up to this moment.

The scent was nearly unbearable. Shiemi, Shima, and Izumo had all begun gagging quietly at the heavy stench of blood and rotting flesh. I hadn’t been able to see all that well into the barn the last time we’d checked, after the cow slaughter. However, the layout was identical to how I remembered from our brief investigation the night before the slaughter. The cows had blocked a lot of the view, but now they were no longer standing.

Instead, their torn corpses had been thrown around the room, almost as if the thing that had done it had had a tantrum. Everywhere you turned there was gore, and I grimaced as I stepped in a puddle of blood. This was going to be a bitch to wash out of my uniform. At least I had experience right? 

The meat had begun decomposing at an almost unnatural rate, some of the flesh was blackened and brutally ripped apart. In some cases, the flesh had been rendered from the bones, and only the blood stained bones remained. What was weird was the fact that all the solitary bones had been stood up in the mound of gunk that two of the cows that hadn’t yet been ripped into pieces lay trapped in. 

On top of one of the thigh bones sat the head of a cow, it’s glassy eyes stared back at us unseeing. The jaw was ripped down in a very Jigsaw reverse bear trap kind of way. The tongue hung loosely out of the mouth, eerily making it look almost like it was grinning widely at us. You know, in the crazy Joker-esque manner. Bon grimaced from behind me, glancing uneasily at the centre of the room.

I really couldn’t blame him - I didn’t want to be here either. 

Shiemi had buried her head in Yukio’s shoulder, her hands holding hairspray and a small lighter, were shaking. Yukio had his gun held at his side, his other arm clutching Shiemi close, almost unconsciously. Konekomaru was shaking so badly I could hear his teeth chattering as he stood uncertainly near the entrance. He had wanted to wait outside, but couldn’t really control his curiosity. 

Shura and Fujimoto stood beside each other, an eerie calm settling over the both of them. They were comfortable in this situation. This was far from the first horrible scene that they had had to deal with, the familiarity was probably comforting to them. They were in their element, and it was unsettling to see the serene expression on Fujimoto’s face.

I’d made my peace with Shura’s glee towards horror, but seeing the man that had supposedly raised Yukio’s wimpy ass? It was far from what I’d expect from the man. Is this what I looked like when I was on a mission? Thinking about it, I’d seen the same look on Nagisa’s face, right before he goes in for a kill. The kind of serene joy of knowing that everything was going to plan and that you were in your element. You had the control.

I certainly hope that Fujimoto has control of this situation. I was not going to be okay with losing another one of those kids. Because that’s what they are, kids. Not kids in the way that we were when we first started Class E, but still young in another way. The only loss Class E had suffered (during the time that we were all together anyways) was Korosensei, who we had been trying to kill all year.

The cram class had all come from some sort of tragedy before coming here, and we’d all suffered the loss of Paku together as well. They’d all bonded on some level over the hardships of being an exorcist. While the reality can be terrifying, assassins are both the monsters and the heroes. It’s easier to deal with really; everything is in our control. The supernatural was not easy to deal with. It was messy and often caused so much more destruction than any reasonable person was willing to handle.

Cases were never clean or went according to plan. It just wasn’t done.

So we’re in the barn, and surrounded by such a foul and heavy scent that with my hypersensitivity, I was beginning to get light headed. My vision blurred slightly, but I shook my head to keep it at bay. Now was not the time to get distracted, I was one of the few sources of the only thing that could kill this demon. 

The flame in my hand wavered slightly, as an inexplicable breeze blew through the cracks in the boards of the wall. I shivered as a chill began to settle over the room. If you’ve ever been in a meat locker, it was much like that, but so much worse. The scent of decay hung heavy in the air as the wooden planks began to creak. 

Suddenly, the door to the barn was slammed shut. Well more like slammed. It was done so violently, that Konekomaru nearly jumped out of his skin in fear. He let out a small squeak before silencing himself by placing a hand over his mouth. We all stared at the door as if waiting for something to appear. Just to be that little shit, I decided to wait until the suspense had grown greatly to speak.

“Well, that’s not very nice, now is it.” I said, abruptly breaking the tense silence. Shiemi shrieked and jumped closer to Yukio. Fujimoto frowned at me in a reprimanding manner. 

“Rin! You shouldn’t speak like that about the demon. It’s killed someone and it eats flesh.” He hissed. I rolled my eyes and increased the intensity of the flame in my hand.

“Aw, c’mon  _ Father _ ! How else are we meant to get this thing to appear?” I grin, turning back to the grand expanse of room. With the door now closed, the light now only came from the cracks in the walls and ceiling, as well as the fire that I held; an eerie blue glow highlighting all the red splashed everywhere. Izumo flicked open her own lighter, quickly followed by Shiemi - although her light seemed to shake and waver as she trembled.

“Hey there demon, it’s me, ya boi” I mock, grinning at Yukio as I whirl around, gesturing with my fire wildly. “Why don’t you come on out so we can have a nice chat and I can burn you to death!” I grin. Glancing over at Yukio, the faint light reveals that he’s glaring and making rather violent ‘stop that’ gestures. I decide to continue.

“Come on! I bet you haven’t seen this many humans in a  _ long  _ time. Don’t you want to take a bite of this?” I say gesturing towards myself. Something shifts in the inky darkness, and I unconsciously take a step back. My taunting seemed to be working. There was a hiss from the corner of the room, and the darkness seemed to shift so that it almost outlined a figure limping towards us.

What figure could be seen appeared to be as ghastly as one would expect a flesh eating monster to be. It was tall - 7 ft easily - and thin. Imagine your most awkward skinny tall friend, and multiply it by like 20. Despite how willowy it was, it hunched over, almost curling in on itself. There appeared to be long tresses of hair hanging over where its face should be, but they did nothing to hide the two glowing pools of red that were probably its eyes.

In other words, it was definitely not something one would like to fight in the dark. Which was of course what we were doing. 

“ _ Fooooolish Huuuman”  _ It hissed, shifting closer until the barest hint of blue glow outlined its body. “ _ I am centuuuuuries old, you can’t kiiiiiiill meee. No ooooooone hasssss beforrrrre.”  _ I smirked, oh please. I had concocted the plan to kill Korosensei - supposedly the unkillable. That was when we didn’t even really know if he could be killed. Now, we knew what it’s weaknesses were, and it (most likely) couldn’t move at mach 20. We also knew that its kind could be killed, and had been before.

In this moment, it felt like all apprehension and terror in my body fled. The feeling of wrongness had both intensified and completely disappeared. It was still there, telling me that this  _ abomination _ shouldn’t exist, however it also didn’t bother me? The thing that had been as annoying as that little thing out of the corner of your eye - the vague sense of wrongness - was suddenly no longer a problem. 

It wasn’t foreboding - I could see it. I could destroy it. It wasn’t looming in the background. I don’t really get why the terror was gone, but I was kind of grateful for the adrenaline high I got instead. My senses were sharpened even further by the adrenaline spike and with my rather cat-like demon eyes, it was much easier to see the Jikininki. I actually doubted that the others could even see the outline at this point. Both Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei had their guns positioned just over my shoulder, pointed directly at the red glow.

A head shot. Admittedly a good effort, but it would only slow it down. Then again, body shots wouldn’t do much either. The dim light from the lighters behind me and whatever seeped through the cracks on the walls wasn’t nearly enough for anyone without sharp eyes to see. There hadn’t been enough time for their human eyes to adjust, 

Shima and Bon shifted nervously behind me, some dared not even breathe. We’d gotten the creature out now, so now it was our job to get rid of it. Fucking finally. We were so close; the final boss battle if you will. 

_ [of course there was no way of knowing…]  _

“You’re not the first to believe that.” I reply casually, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. I can hear my blood flowing in my ears, a dull roar somehow managing to not drown out my surroundings. Every twitch, every shift pinged as an information input. I clutch the katana tightly, before pulling it out in one smooth motion, so fast that it actually surprised the flesh eating demon. 

According to my will, the blade lit on fire, illuminating so much more of the barn and the monster in front of us. It was even more gruesome than I had expected. Of course, all the colours had been dimmed under the blue fire filter, but I could still see the dried blood that covered the ashen skin that coated the demon. It hung loosely from the emaciated form, as if the creature was starved. The flesh around it’s mouth and fingers had been torn apart and was still bleeding.

It’s teeth were razor sharp and it’s mouth hung in a permanent grin, identical to the one on the cow. It hissed wordlessly at the appearance of more fire. Then, it lunged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we’ve established that I am trash that likes to make references so here’s this one. Has anyone seen the new episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved? I know I’m trash, but I’m a Shaniac so it kinda just slipped in. It’s decently in character for how I’ve characterized the Okumura Rin and Akabane Karma fusion. --- also apparently a teen wolf reference managed to slip it’s way in. I was completely oblivious to it and that one was completely unintentional. lol


	15. Burning It Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so like 2000 more words than normal... I had originally planned for more to happen in this chapter, but 5000 is enough for one update. It's usually 3000. Pls be patient because Idk when in the next two weeks I'll have time for the next chapter. but rest assured I will have one up 14 days from now if I have to pull another damn all nighter. I was lucky I had a trip this weekend that allowed me to finish this. That and I'm sick today.

Izumo P.O.V

As soon as Rin started taunting the demon, everything went downhill very fast. First, it appeared, which was already horrifying on its own. I could barely see much past the small flame that Rin held, but it did cast enough light to see a vague silhouette. Well, enough to know that it was tall and terrifying. The thing that I could see the clearest though, was two glowing red eyes. I was 150% ready to nope my way right out of the building.

Apparently Rin didn’t share those sentiments because _he continued to speak with it._ AND THEN THE THING SPOKE BACK. I was not prepared for that nope. But nobody else was going to leave so I mean, everything’s fine. I flicked on my lighter. It didn’t do much, but it made me feel slightly better.

The creature was hissing some threats and Rin was hissing on right back. I don’t really know what he was thinking, but the barn was dark and with our human eyes we couldn’t see shit. But I mean, Father Fujimoto wasn’t stopping Rin, so maybe he felt that this was the best way? Admittedly, he got the demon to show itself, however this was way more dangerous than we should be facing. It’s killed someone.

We weren’t even certified exorcists yet. Shouldn’t we be facing something a bit simpler? You know like a simple coal tar infestation or something. I mean, I’d complain that we are being babied, but this was the exact opposite end of the spectrum. It’s like there was no in between with teenagers. Next thing you know Yukio will be taking us on a field trip to the Moriyama’s shop to pick up some equipment or something. This was supposed to be the easy mission to get us back in swing after that disaster of a camping trip.

Honestly, we’ve had like 2 missions and the first one ended in a classmates death, while the other one ended in a battle with one of the 9 demon kings. Seriously our luck.

That’s when Rin unsheathed his katana and set it ablaze. We were suddenly able to see what the demon looked like. And boy was it a sight too. Straight out of one of those horror mangas. The blue tinted light somehow made the eerie sudden silence in the barn terrifying. All signs of wind or moving air had ceased, I couldn’t even hear anyone breathing.

That’s when it lunged and everything dissolved into complete and utter chaos. Everyone was moving at once and those with the light were frantically waving it around in a desperate attempt to see.It was everywhere at once, and our feet were rooted to the spot. The small flame in my hand shook.

Shiemi screamed and both Bon and Father Fujimoto began running through various chants in an attempt to slow down the beast. Rin had begun waving his sword around, painting paths of fire in the air and giving us flashes of visibility. Karasuma had his gun trained on the beast, but it was too close to Rin and all of us for him to risk taking a shot in such close quarters. Hearing was important, and blowing out our ears prematurely wasn’t a good idea.

Jelavich-sensei had begun to help Rin by pulling out her own aerosol can and lighting the spray on fire. Those that were close enough to feel the heat of the flame backed off towards where Konekomaru was working on the door. By working on the door, I mean, jiggling the handle and kicking at it weakly.

Bon and Father Fujimoto were still working through various verses regarding ghosts and such, while Yukio covered their escape by hastily throwing a small holy water grenade. Luckily for them, they weren’t close enough to have the spray hit Rin. It just made the Jikininki not want to go near them. Shima was loudly kicking at the door, while someone during all of this chaos, I’d managed to back myself into a wall.

Shiemi was standing just behind Yukio, but she was surprisingly the one who saw what was happening before I did. “Izumo! Watch out!” she shrieked. I whirled around just in time to see the beast lurching away from Rin’s flames and towards me with its jaw held wide open and drooling as it stared hungrily at me.

I felt frozen in my spot. I couldn’t move out of sheer terror. It was like all my limbs had suddenly become filled with lead. I trembled as I just stared wide eyed at the thing as it came closer and closer to me. It must have happened in a split second, but it felt like eternity. The feeling of impending doom. I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream.

And just as the world had seemed to slow down in that instant, it rapidly sped up right near the end. My eyes managed to close at the last second, right before it hit me. Then, Shiemi screamed as a splash of blood flew through the air. I felt drops of warmth hit my cheek and soak through my top.

I… I didn’t feel anything.

I stood trembling for a second, cautiously opening my eyes to come face to face with bright blue flames. They were tinted royal blue at the edges, and I could feel the heat of it against my skin. Staring past the flames, I could see Rin standing just in front of me. He was covered in the blue fire, holding his katana in front of him where it had stabbed through the Jikininki and run right through to the other side.

His blood red hair was flying around in some invisible wind and near his forehead was two small flames, almost in the shape of horns. Kind of symbolic, but that’s not what really drew my attention. No, it was the monster, and the source of the blood spray.

The Jikininki had latched itself onto Rin upper left arm. His uniform sleeve was torn and soaked in blood. It was enough blood to create a rather fantastical spray, and that was worrisome. How bad was he injured - and because of me?

The demon was even uglier up close than I’d predicted. It’s worn and wrinkled face was covered in blood and grime and its teeth were half rotted through. Even with that fact, they were razor sharp and numerous. Like the horrendous teeth the Mouth of Sauron had, or Pennywise the Clown. They tore through flesh like it was butter, but the thing kept its jaws chomped down tightly on Rin’s arm. Its claws were stabbing into Rin’s flesh through his uniform jacket.

Suddenly it was like I could move again and a scream tore from my throat, drawing everyone’s attention to the demons battling less than a foot in front of me. I drop to the ground, running out from behind Rin so that he could focus on fighting the damn thing. I stumble my way towards where Shima and Konekomaru were by the door, weakly joining in their effort to just _get it open_.

The Jikininki’s eyes followed my movements, it’s dilapidated lips drawing into a smile around the blood that was flowing freely down Rin’s arms. We needed to get _out_. Rin growled sharply at the demon, drawing its attention back to the thing that it was currently chowing down on and he drove his katana a little further into the creature. The blue fire gradually began to spread and a look of panic replaced the triumphant and smug one that had previously filled the creatures eyes. It was beginning to realize that in attacking Rin, it was screwed. It released a howl as it stepped back, glaring furiously at the red headed teen.

It licked it’s lips slowly, looking at the fire that was spreading around its body. “ _You…”_ it hissed, staring wide eyed at all of us. “ _Satan spawn… of course_ .” It sounded like it might have tried to say more, but then the glow of its red eyes began to dim as it became engulfed in the blue flames. Irina-sensei rushed over to us, her heels making solid thumps against the dirt ground as she pushed everyone out of the way so that she could _kick down_ the door.

Immediately everyone began to rush from the building, coming to rest about 50 yards away from the barn, looking back as Rin and Karasuma each rushed out of the building. The sky was beginning to grow dark, the sun having set but still leaving its last bit of light on the countryside. God, how long had we been in there? It felt like it had only been 20 minutes tops!

But… the sky said that we’d been in there for hours.

Flashes of black and blood red made their way towards us. The figure with the crimson hair, pausing about 10 yards from the building, launching more blue fire at it as the building was set ablaze. In an almost unnatural amount of time, the barn broke down. The Satanic flames ate away at the old wood and it collapsed in a matter of seconds. Rin began to run towards us when the house finally collapsed, a horrible ear splitting shriek emitted from it as the demon was burned alive.

Rin nearly collapsed by the time he’d made it to us. He leaned heavily on Karasuma’s shoulder, as we all stood, staring at the burning barn, until the sun was long gone, and the moon had begun to rise. The barn was nothing more than charred wood now.

 

* * *

 

Shima P.O.V

We stood, watching as the barn finally burnt to the ground. As soon as the last flame bit the dust, it was like a spell had been released on us as heavy sighs of relief were released. Rin abruptly collapsed, only avoiding hitting the ground because of Karasuma-sensei’s fast reflexes. He was clutching the torn sleeve of his jacket, blood dripping down his fingers.

“We need to get inside.” I heard myself saying, as we all began to trudge back to the house. Our pace bothe hurried and slowed by the fact that Karasuma-sensei was practically dragging Rin along with him. We needed to check on Rin’s injury, but we were all tired, and Rin appeared to only be able to go so fast. His powers must take a lot out of him. Well that and the fact that he was heavily bleeding.

Like he was bleeding enough to leave a trail in the field behind us. A bit not good. We crashed through the back door, Karasuma-sensei allowing Rin to try and stand on his own. Unable to, he leaned against the wall. In fact, we all leaned against the wall, Shiemi going so far as to plop down on the ground and let out a sigh. Yukio stood frozen before moving to look over the other students, for some reason not going towards his own brother first.

That struck me as wrong somehow.

Instead, Karasuma carefully approached him, giving a cursory glance up and down the elder Okumura twin before turning to face Izumo. “Kamiki-san, can you go and get the first aid kit from the bathroom as well as the one in my suitcase? It’s urgent.” Karasuma-sensei said softly, startling the purple haired girl. Her face and top were completely drenched in blood, but she seemed to have forgotten about it because she nodded frantically before rushing down the hall. Karasuma then turned to Rin, pulling out a knife from his waistband.

He moved towards the injured teen, coming to stop in front of him and gingerly touching the blood soaked fabric of his school uniform. “We need to get this away from your wound, Rin-kun. I need to see the damage.” he said softly, his voice monotone. In response, Rin carefully let go of his arm, wiping off his bloody hand on his pants which were already blood stained.

Karasuma carefully cut off the sleeve of Rin’s jacket and dress shirt, removing all the damaged and blood soaked areas. The thin formerly white dress shirt had adhered itself to the pale unblemished skin around the openly bleeding bite mark. Rin winced and gritted his teeth as our P.E. teacher carefully worked the fabric off by softening it with some water from a bottle that Jelavich-sensei had passed him.

His face was a mask of concentration as he stared critically at the gaping wound. I leaned over his shoulder to get a glimpse and almost threw up in my mouth. I have no idea how Rin wasn’t screaming in pain right now because that looked god awful. The flesh was completely ripped apart and raw around the edges. It was still oozing blood and had multiple messy puncture wounds. There was even a couple of teeth still embedded in the wound. At some points, the wound went right down to the bone.

All in all, it was not a pretty sight.

Rin leaned heavily against the wall as he slipped down to the floor, landing with a loud thump, but obviously not caring. The fingers on his uninjured side suddenly let go of the katana he’d been clutching and it clattered to the floor.

Jelavich-sensei quickly scooped up the weapon and ran a rag down it to clean off the blood before it dried. She eventually walked out of the room with he katana and sheath, complaining all the while about how youth these days didn’t have the proper respect for weaponry. At this time Izumo-chan had returned with the Smith’s first aid kit as well as the one that Karasuma-san had in his own bag.

Karasuma-sensei nodded in thanks before kneeling on the ground and opening both of the kits. The Smith’s was surprisingly well stocked with various cleaning supplies and some bandages as well as pain killers. Karasuma-sensei’s personal kit however, was much more… interesting. It had some medical supplies I had only ever seen in old war films. However Karasuma-sensei ignored most of the things and simply pulled out a pack of butterfly closures, a needle and some dissolving thread (the real high tech stuff), as well as some cleaning supplies from the Smith’s kit.

Rin had full on collapsed against the wall, pale from the still sluggishly bleeding bite wound. Sensei carefully wiped away the blood from around the bite wound revealing that it wasn’t the only moderately serious wound. There was some more scratches along his arm, from when the Jiki-whatever latched onto him after biting down.

There was even some residual holy water burns from his spar with Shura this morning. If they had lasted this long, even with his advanced healing, that stuff must have been potent. Normally a demon of his caliber wouldn’t be as affected. Shura must have pulled out all the shots. Either that, or the bomb that Okumura-sensei threw must have caught him after all.

Rin instinctively curled his injured arm closer to himself in some effort to protect himself from any hostiles in the room. The hostiles being his classmates and Father Fujimoto as we stood in various places round the room just watching. Although, no one was making light of the situation. Not even Bon. In fact, Bon’s mouth was set in a hard line as he obviously fought to not look away.

That could even be considered a sign of respect.

The others - including myself - however, stared out of some sense of morbid curiosity. Honestly, seeing this kind of injury in real life was shocking. Seeing the cow had been horrifying enough, but this was another teenager, a classmate. Demon or no, it was messed up.

We knew what we signed up for when we joined this class, but in the past couple of months, we’ve seen and done so much more than I ever would have expected out of a high school cram class.

Why was it always Rin that ended up getting the short end of the stick?

In our first mission (if you could even call it that), he got a blast from his long buried and suppressed past, and then Paku died under his watch. Even though, personally I believe Shura and Yukio to be more at fault. Rin had just found out about demons and he was suddenly thrust into a position where he needed to keep all of us alive while simultaneously dealing with his trauma. Shura and Yukio were both supposed to be the more experienced ones.

If anyone should be held accountable it should be them. But I knew that Rin still felt guilty about it. I knew this because he was the one who had planned the funeral. Not an adult, not even Yukio who was supposedly more mature than Rin despite being the younger twin. Rin handled the situation in an expert manner, and I doubt anyone would have done a better job. But we always seem to forget that Rin is only 14, just like the rest of us. In fact, some of us (me and Bon) were actually a lot older, what with us both being 16. Even Izumo was 15.

And that’s forgetting about the existence of the camping trip. Shura’s dumbest idea till date. Rin had done his absolute best to protect us from one of the _demon kings_ , the highest level of demon. So what if he was revealed to be half demon, and a son of Satan at that. You can’t honestly tell me you didn’t see it coming? Sure his sunny disposition might have thrown me off for a bit, but even under that you could still see bits and pieces of his true personality.

Like in the way his eyes gleamed when someone screwed up or the hint of amusement at the sight of failure or a stupid comment. It was all hidden behind a bright smile and goofy demeanor, but if you could look past that, there was just too much that didn’t add up.

Sure he was a fucking genius, but he was currently the top of our class in every subject. That was crazy. Bon, Konekomaru and I, we’ve all been studying this shit since we were born. And then there was the fact that Rin was just a little off all the time. Something was just unsettling about his presence. It definitely triggered my flight instinct. And after seeing him fight… needless to say I don’t exactly want to cross him.

He dropped the sunny little act as soon as he got a negative reaction to his reveal. Instead he re-assumed what I assume to be his true personality. He was a cunning little shit with an evil streak a mile wide. He was a predator through and through, and he enjoyed playing with his prey.

I did my best to stay away, but when you’re best friends with a self-proclaimed demon hater (A.K.A Bon) then it was kind of hard. It was also hard to provide any sort of support in the grey area when I shared literally no other classes with the red headed son of Satan. Still, I feel like not actively participating in the hate fest was all I could do.

Still, he might be half demon, but he didn’t deserve all the shit that he was being forced to deal with. It just wasn’t right. He kept taking hits for us when it wasn’t his job to do so. He was acting more responsible than our teachers for the most part! Heck, Karasuma-sensei and Jelavich-sensei seemed to be following his lead half the time. It was odd, considering they had been his mentors and had taught him - were teaching him. By all rights, Rin should be looking to them for guidance.

However, they just sort of let him do his thing. Only providing support and the occasional pointer. They were the type of people that ‘stayed in their lane’ so to speak. Rin didn’t seem all that bothered by the way that the two odd teachers treated him. But he was getting pretty fed up with Shura, Father Fujimoto, and Yukio. Yukio was straddling (never want to think about Yukio straddling anything _oh my god_ ) the line between concerned brother, and disapproving teacher who’s dealing with a delinquent child. That would be irritating enough on its own, but then there was Shura.

Shura was being a right ol’ bitch about Rin’s personality in general, but she’d always known that he was a demon. And with how she acted, she seemed to have known that Rin was a demon from the beginning. Probably why she had been sent here to teach us in the first place. She was highly unqualified to teach, and honestly? At this point it feels like I’d learn more if Rin taught us.

And with his attitude, he’d be a shitty teacher too!

But even Shura paled in comparison to how utterly impossible it must be for Rin to deal with Father Fujimoto. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the fuck out of that man - he was a legend! But for someone like Rin… he must be a new challenge. It seemed almost impossible to deal with because not only was he forced to live with the goofball (he had the same sense of humour as me, and I know I’m not always the easiest to deal with - wow self-awareness) for the summer after his family had been supposedly murdered-

(okay so I say supposedly because Rin’s entire past has basically been shrouded in mystery ever since the Fabricated World debacle. Everything we knew about him had been thrown out the window, and no one had any idea how much of what we knew was true and how much was just another lie. Then his entire personality turned out to be fake and threw everyone for a loop again. For all we know, his family might have actually been murdered! Just… not by Satan? I don’t know… everything was so complicated)

-that wouldn’t exactly be fun for anyone to deal with. Then there was the whole reveal of his sibling. Father Fujimoto isn’t exactly the most nurturing. It was no wonder Yukio turned out the way that he did. By now, we all knew that Rin was quite capable, and yet Father Fujimoto treated him like a child.

A child, that needed to be controlled. He treated him with both too much and too little caution, both being applied in all the wrong areas. Rin already had a short temper, and it was no surprise that he did everything he possibly could to undermine the priest. He was a challenge, and Rin had already been proven to have a special hatred for teachers. Positions of authority really. Father Fujimoto seems to expect Rin to follow his instructions just because. And even I was getting fed up with it and I practically worshiped the man.

No wonder Rin was pissed off at his arrival. It especially doesn’t help that this is all because Yukio needed held because he believed Rin to be out of control. That’s where he was wrong, everything Rin did was deliberate. I may seem like an idiot most of the time, but I had survived this long for a reason. I am perceptive, even if other obvious things evade me. But Rin didn’t have that problem. He was a genius in pretty much every way. But Yukio and the others just dismissed him.

And that’s why it makes it so hard to see him like this now. This isn’t even all that bad of an injury as far as things go… right? I don’t know… I ‘m just a fucking teenager, right? What do I know.

It’s not like anyone can dismiss Rin now.

Karasuma-sensei carefully laid out all of the supplies before reaching slowly for Rin’s arm, carefully stopping before touching him in an invitation. He was respecting Rin’s more demonic instincts by not pushing his boundaries. Rin’s golden eyes glinted luminously as he stared at Karasuma-sensei before flickering over to the rest of us and then back to his wound.

After a moment of deliberation, he gingerly places his arm in Karasuma’s waiting grasp. Karasuma held it carefully but firmly as he made quick work of the remaining blood with an alcohol wipe. Rin hissed when it hit some of the deeper wounds on accident, but other than that he remained silent. Karasuma-sensei frowned as he pulled Rin’s arm closer and inspected it.

“Some areas will need some stitches even with your advanced healing.” He mused quietly. “But almost everything else can he fixed with some butterfly closures for a day or two. I’ll wrap them up after so you don’t irritate it when you work.” He decided. Rin just nodded, leaning his head back as Karasuma began to prep the needle, completely ignoring pain killers.

“Ano… shouldn’t you numb the area first?” Shiemi whispered softly. She was sitting quietly on the floor along with Izumo and she held a wet rag in her hands. Izumo, who was still in a state of shock, was covered in Rin’s drying blood. She was in no condition to try and clean it off at the moment, so Shiemi, being the sweetheart that she is, was trying to wipe it off as best as she could while all Izumo could do was just stare at the bite mark on Rin’s arm.

Both Karasuma-sensei’s and Rin’s eyes immediately snapped over to look at the petite blonde. Karasuma-san’s eyes shifted over subtly to Rin’s in a silent question. Rin rolled his eyes weakly before shifting slightly and grumbling. 

“I’m fine Moriyama-san. Most basic drugs don’t work so great on me, and this wouldn’t be the first time I got stitched up without any help.” he called softly, his voice thick with pain carried through the room. “Because I got a delinquent past,” he smirked at us and I just knew that he was mocking Father Fujimoto and Yukio.

Yukio sniffed sharply, his eyes watering at the sight of his older brother being downed. “Shut up!” he squeaked, his voice watery from suppressing tears. “Just take the painkillers!” he nearly yelled in frustration, his hands clenched in fists and shaking by his side.

Rin raised an eyebrow before gesturing with his uninjured side at Karasuma to continue. Karasuma-sensei grunted but continued to sterilize and thread the needle. “Really, Yukio, it’s fine.” he dismissed, beginning to tremble as Karasuma made the first stitch. “It’ll be over quicker if I just…” he tried to continue, his voice rising a couple notes as Karasuma deftly put in stitches where the wounds were too deep for just a butterfly closure. He grit his teeth in pain and fell silent, seemingly trying to focus on not letting the pain show.

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes, but it was a tense 5 minutes of silence. Just the sound of pulling thread through skin and the occasional snip of small scissors. Then they were done and Karasuma-sensei was putting back the leftover supplies and placing the butterfly closures on the rest of the wounds.

“I know you’re not going to listen, but wrap these up when you shower so that they don’t get wet. They should be healed in a couple of days, but they will only heal _well_ that fast if you keep them covered and the stitches in place. Don’t get these dirty or you _will_ get an infection. We don’t want a repeat of last time.” The Vatican teacher began measuring out various strips of bandages and applying them rather liberally over all the different injuries Rin had sustained.

By this time, Yukio had begun to make his way around the room once more, coming to stop by my side. He must have been doing his doctor in training thing with the others, but a cursory glance of my own revealed that Izumo was the only one covered in blood and it wasn’t even her own. The rest of us just had smudges and smears of ash from the fire on us. We’d all smell like smoke for days.

“I’m fine,” I whisper quietly, dismissing Yukio’s helpful hand in exchange for getting up on my own. I stretched loudly, breaking everyone’s gaze away from Rin. “Well, now that that’s over, maybe we can leave? Like tonight?” I ask loudly, my back announcing rather loudly that I’d been sitting in one position for a long time.

Something flickered in Rin’s eyes, but it went to quickly for me to get a definitive grasp on what it was. I think it might have been gratitude? But with his ever shifting molten gold eyes, it was near impossible to tell what he was thinking. So much for eyes being the window to the soul.

“I believe Shima is right. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I have some business in the city later tonight. Why don’t we all go pack up, maybe take a couple showers, and then head out.” his voice had regained its smooth and in control quality. It was full of reassurance and soft leadership - truly an ingenious deceit. He was good at this, we just never noticed.

I wonder how many times that we - or someone else - had overlooked his injuries because he seemed completely ‘fine’.

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Rin-chan, Rinzou-kun.” A feminine voice floated over from the doorway. The Assassin had returned, Kurikara held aloft in one of her hands, good as new. “I would very much like to be getting back.” Then she directed her gaze at Father Fujimoto. “I too, have some business in the city to attend to.” she purred. “Never fear, I’ve already talked to the Smith’s and they’ll see us out tonight.” She grinned, her smile was all teeth before she handed Rin his katana.

“Oh, and Rin dear? I have some plastic wraps you can use to shower before we leave. You smell and I refuse to sit on a bus with you if you plan on continuing to smell.” Rin let out a sharp laugh at her statement.

“But of course, Bitch-sensei. Don’t forget that my sense of smell is way more sensitive than yours. Lead the way, oh mighty one.” he grinned, seemingly forgetting all about his arm wrapped in a layer of bandages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter will be the collision between the cram students and Class E complete with a song and realizations. After that there will be an awkward fluffy chapter. Then back to plot. We're already at chapter 15 and we're not even close to the actual plot of this story. Wow. anyways, next chapter is the scene that basically inspired this entire 4 story (1 finished, 1 wip, 2 future) series. I literally had a weird day dream and this stupid shit was born.


	16. The Bus Ride Back Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY ABOUT ALL OF THE MISTAKES BUT UHHH

Rin/Karma P.O.V

Luckily for me I was adept at taking quick showers and was able to get rid of the gross bloody feeling rather quickly. Unluckily, Father Fujimoto just  _ happened _ to be waiting in the room. Karasuma was just on his way out when I got into the room dressed in some sweats and a tea shirt that I’d found at the bottom of my bag. 

(I honestly forgot it was there, but like… I was glad that it was because everything  _ huuuuurts _ )

My ruined school uniform clutched in a pile in my hand. I’d end up having Kayano repurpose the jacket and maybe even the shirt, but I wouldn’t be able to wear it to school again. The whole hacked off sleeve look just didn’t fit with the dress code? Maybe for a dress down day or something… or nah… that’s fine.

I mean I can be a stylish hipster who has school spirit at the next big Kunugikaoka meet up.

I snuck into the room, doing my best to ignore Fujimoto’s presence as I gingerly moved my arm and body around the room, grabbing things as I went. I had packed lightly and only taken a few things out of the bag, so it was going pretty fast and I was almost sure that I wouldn’t have to talk to the priest when my phone rang. 

As a blessing or a curse I don’t really know.

I lung for my phone as Fujimoto’s head snapped up to stare at the vibrating thing I had left on the bed. “Moshi moshi, Okumura speaking.” I said, wincing slightly at the use of my birth name. This was a work call, and I hated to have to use  _ this  _ particular alias, but I was answering this call while packing in a room with Father Fujimoto in it. He wouldn’t let it go if I used another name than one he knew. I can already tell that he’s going to bring up Baez later. 

The demon might have taken priority before, but now it was dead and we were packing up to head ‘home’. When we were on the bus was a perfect time to corner me. And honestly, it seems he hadn’t even sent a cursory glance at my school records, or he probably would have been much more concerned when I first arrived. You see the thing is, I have a lot of unexplainable things on my record that the Vatican forced True Cross to overlook because of my status. 

Fujimoto does not know about these things. Even before my demonic heritage was revealed I was a literal delinquent gang member. The comments made by my middle school teachers were not just hearsay. He’s going to want to look more into my past and let me tell you, that is  _ not  _ a good thing to do. If he doesn’t like me now (and thinks that I’m an unstable half-demon mess) then after actually looking for evidence, he’s gonna hate me. 

Figures of authority usually do. I’m special like that. Maybe it’s the fact that I act like such a smartass…

That’s beside the point. Either way, he was going to ask a lot of uncomfortable questions (that I have no doubt that the others want answers to as well) about Baez and this current phone call. I honestly can’t remember if he’s met Garry yet. I do believe he has, but that could just be me overlooking things. Welp, a call from my demon boyfriend will certainly give him an aneurism at this point. 

_ “Karma, I’m just calling to check up on your case. The information my dolls and Baez found was worrying.”  _ I hear from the other end and I wince at the reproachful tone in his voice. Oh boy, he knew that something had happened without even having to be here. Had that one mission really given him such an insight on my classmates, or did he just know me that well that he knew I would get into shit no matter what. 

“It’s nice to hear from you too.” I say cheekily subtly (by that I mean not subtly at all) avoiding mentioning that everything had gone to shit almost as soon as we tried to confront the Jikininki. 

_ “Karma.” _

“Fine,” I sighed, settling the phone in between my shoulder and the side of my face as I moved around the room, ignoring the throbbing in my arm. The wound wasn’t exactly pleasant and yes I’ve had some worse wounds (the gunshot back in the year before I started going to Kunugikaoka definitely ranks as the worst, even if I healed faster than a normal kid realistically should with a wound like that), but that doesn’t mean this one didn’t hurt like a bitch. 

It was a raw bite wound and it had torn things. Plus I had stitches without painkillers? That wasn’t what I’d signed up for when I joined this fucking class. What was I thinking, how was I supposed to spend the rest of my high school career here? True Cross was a good school, even if the cram class gave me an aneurism practically everyday. 

The bleeding has stopped, and the bandages that I had replaced had stayed white for the past couple of minutes so that was a win. “Well, things were going fine up until we actually got into the barn. That was when I got the demon to appear and the uh… well it went after Izumo - you know the girl that is totally a bitch but is cool because she wasn’t revealed to be a racist (is is speciest?) piece of shit when I was revealed to be the son of Satan? Well it was her - and I couldn’t just do nothing. So I got in the way and long story short, I have some stitches in my arm.” I spit out in a rush, suddenly embarrassed and feeling like I was 9 again.

I hadn’t felt like this after returning to the fabricated world, but something about the vaguely scolding tone in my boyfriend’s voice just sorta… made me feel guilty for being the reckless piece of shit that I am. I mean, that should theoretically be good, but I didn’t like that? No one should make me feel anything without my permission? Like no. Blocked and reported, stop. 

Fujimoto was staring, I could tell, but I just decided to avoid staring at him by folding my clothes almost obsessively while I waited for Garry to respond. I hear a sigh from the phone as Garry began to speak again. 

_ “Karma, I leave you for less than a week and this is the shit you get into? Heck, you had the dolls with you only yesterday. How do you always managed this?”  _ He said in an exasperated tone, although, I could hear the reluctant smile on his words. 

“Karasuma-sensei looked it over for me and did the stitches himself! It’s not like I did them…” I trail off, zipping up my bag and going around the room to check to see if I forgot anything. 

_ “That’s not the point,”  _ Garry says softly,  _ “even if Karasuma-san checked you over, I want you here at the club as soon as you get back. You know Kyoya-kun wants to see you too.”  _ he points out. I can’t really find it in myself to disagree considering that’s what I want too. 

I don’t want to have to be around my classmates or my brother any longer than I have to at this point. I was injured and just downright cranky if I was going to be honest. The bus ride was going to be fucking exhausting, and dealing with Yukio back at the dorms was going to be even worse. At least at the club I would be able to see the others from Class E again. Maybe work out some of my stress.

Get ‘roped into’ doing some karaoke again. Just sing out all the feels and then not have to deal with them ever again. You know, Glee style. 

“Deal,” I cave, looking over at the window to check the time. “It’s getting late and if we want to get back at a reasonable time, then we need to head out really soon. I’ll see you when I get back, okay?” I say, grabbing my bag and katana and slinging it over my uninjured shoulder. Hanging up, I shoved the phone in my pants pocket and left the room, deliberately ignoring the paladin that had been silently in the room with me. 

Important people who thought highly of themselves didn’t like to be ignored. I did that to piss him off, because despite the fact that I loathed to admit it, we were similar enough that I knew just the right ways to piss him off. Because if someone were to ignore me without a good reason, it pissed  _ me  _ off. 

Sure it was also somewhat satisfying for me, because if they were ignoring me, then it was because of something that I had done to make them ignore me. (No, what are you talking about? That wasn’t repetitive at all…) But that was beside the point, Fujimoto thought so highly of his own abilities - of which none of us, save maybe Yukio and Shura, had actually seen yet - that the idea of someone not caring about his opinion or his mere presence was appalling to him.

Honestly though? I think even the others were beginning to be disillusioned by him by now. He’d gotten us into another really unsafe mission or case, and then he’d been absolutely useless in it. Sure this was supposed to be a ‘diagnostic test’ or whatever, but really? He should have realized that this case was above a high school class and taken over. 

I suppose the idea of training on the job was nice, but the problem with that is that they sacrificed valuable research time? He could have taken this chance to teach the exorcists that it wasn’t all about action. Research is just as important. We would have had no idea what we were up against if it weren’t for  _ my  _ sources. When they start branching out on their own, what are they going to do?

They’ll be lost. And we could have been done with this case much sooner if we weren’t dilly dallying. Maybe, if we had actually worked up to a case like this, then maybe Izumo might not have frozen up. You know conditioning so that they can react objectively to the situation. React and think instead of freezing and being a hinderance. Not gonna lie, I’m a bit bitter about how much my arm hurts and how much of a pain this is going to be while it heals.

Overall this might have been a test, but it was also supposed to be a training activity? I really really think that this could have been handled better, but maybe that is just Korosensei’s influence on me. He always managed to turn every single damn thing we did into a learning exercise so that we could be better. I guess having any other teacher was just a let down now. 

True Cross wasn’t all that bad academic wise, and Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei were always great, however the cram class (the thing I even came here for) was a let down. Not only was my  _ younger twin brother _ supposed to be my teacher, but then the other teachers that were sent were also freakin’ useless.

God, I’m rambling again. 

So yeah, I left the room and surprise surprise, I was one of the first ones there. Karasuma-sensei was already waiting by the door and quietly talking with the clients as he waited. I could still hear showers going and some shuffling from the rooms, so I assumed that it would be a bit before we could go. I rub my arm nervously as I walk towards Karasuma-sensei, nodded silently at him in acknowledgment. He nodded in return before once more speaking with Mr. Smith.

Fujimoto left the room a couple minutes later, closely followed by Bon, Shima, and Konekomaru. We all waited in an awkward silence for the girls. “So uhh, you look a bit better, Rin.” Shima said awkwardly, not looking at me as he spoke. I raised an eyebrow. 

“Thank you, Shima-san.” I said softly. I was tired and just didn’t want to start an argument. Honestly? Shima wasn’t even that bad and I was just kind of tired of dealing with these people in my usual manner. It just wasn’t fun anymore. Not since I’d gotten used to having Class E in my life. Not having people hate me was a lot better than I thought.

We went back to waiting in silence, but lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait all that much longer to leave because Irina soon arrived with Shura, Shiemi and Izumo in tow. “Hoi! We are here so we can leave now!” Irina announced cheerfully. 

“Yes, Bitch-sensei. Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence,” I said sarcastically, if not a little weakly. She face-faulted. 

“Riiiin-chaan!” she squealed theatrically, drawing attention away from my weak comeback, “I told you to stop calling me that!” she pouted. I rolled my eyes and laughed softly, although judging by the worried look she shot me through the corner of my eye showed me that I wasn’t doing as good of a job of hiding my emotions as I usually do. 

“We need to get going.” I snapped, turning my back and beginning to make my way out the door. After a hurried goodbye, the others rushed to follow me. We then made our way towards the bus. We all piled into the bus, but before Karasuma-sensei could head to sit down, Fujimoto pulled him aside. 

“Ah, Karasuma-san, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d prefer it if you could drive us back. Today’s been a wild day, and I’m afraid I’m feeling my age.” It was a weak excuse, but Karasuma-sensei agreed all the same. He clearly saw through it, just like everyone else within earshot. We all knew that Fujimoto wanted to talk to us about something.

So Karasuma-sensei dutifully went to the front of the bus and began driving, all of us picking a seat around the middle of the moderately sized buss. Only Konekomaru and Shima shared a seat, the rest of us were all one or two seats apart. I sat sideways in my seat, my legs propped up against the seat and my back leaning against both my bag and the window. The window was cool, and on a day like this, it actually felt nice. I don’t know why, but I was hot even while in a t-shirt.

I groan softly, leaning back and closing my eyes. Interrogation time, yay. Great. I opened my eyes to see that the rest of the students were staring at me. Shura was snoring loudly in the very back of the bus, and Irina was tapping away at her phone, less than 5 seats in front of us, not looking behind her at all. Fujimoto leaned forward, staring intently at me. I tense ever so slightly, my posture no longer relaxed and instead, proving to aggravate my wounds. I couldn’t help it though, the natural fight or flight instinct you see.

“Fine, you obviously want to know something. Go ahead.” I say coolly, turning my head to look out the window at the passing fields. No city lights in sight; we were still far out. Taking my invitation as what it was, Fujimoto immediately began questioning.

“Rin, understand that I’m only trying to understand the situation better.” he began, trying to look me in the eye. “You are in contact with people outside of the school. Possibly people outside of the Vatican, and you won’t reveal much about them past a last name; Baez.” Fujimoto recounted.

I nodded, not really clarifying anything, just confirming the conclusions that they came to themselves. I wasn’t about to make this easier for them. Yukio shot a look at Fujimoto, before taking over, clearly dissatisfied with how he was going about things. “Why are you in contact with these people? How did you get into contact with these people, and who are they?” Yukio demanded, a hard gleam in his eyes as he stared me down. He wasn’t going to let this go.

He probably held some sort of belief that since he was a licensed exorcist, it was his job to protect me. But that was wrong. Not only was I the older twin, but he had met me less than 6 months ago. What. “Well, you have no business knowing those kinds of things about me,  _ little brother _ .” I said with emphasis on the little brother. He flinched ever so slightly, and I knew that I got my point across. “But if you must know, I  _ did _ had a life before all of… this.” I continue.

Yukio glares at me, “we have a right to know! Me more than anyone. As you so kindly pointed out, I am your brother and I deserve to know about the life my brother had before we were able to find you again. And these people could be dangerous! Should you really be associating with them?” he points out, almost yelling with how displeased he was.

“It’s really none of your business, you weren’t there when it happened.” I respond, turning to stare at him. “And did you ever consider that I am dangerous too? I’m obviously not welcome with you light folk, so it’s only natural I turn to the underground.” I say, dropping hints left and right. It was worth it for the look of confusion on his face at my response.

“Shut up, Okumura! You never answered his questions.” Bon snarks from where he was sprawled over his own seat. I sneer but reluctantly move to answer nonetheless. Lies were exhausting to keep up afterall. I could keep up a cover only so long, especially after one of them has been blown. Omitting the truth is much easier and less energy consuming. 

“Well Baez is just - as I said earlier - a contact. I don’t exactly remember when I met him, it was definitely before middle school though. I tried to keep my distance because I went to quite the prestigious school. It wouldn’t do to get caught with someone who wasn’t considered fit for company. People who believed in demons were considered unfit.” I said flippantly, glossing over how I met Baez and throwing some other useless information at them.

“As for how and why I have contacts in the first place, well when you’re hated by your adoptive parents you tend to avoid people. It just so happens that I ran into some people on the other side of the tracks. They liked me and we kept in contact. No big deal.” I shrug, it really wasn’t. Maybe they all grew up at monasteries or whatever, but some of us lived the life of a ‘normal teen’ for a while. Sure I was a delinquent, but it really wasn’t that big of a problem. 

I really didn’t understand why Yukio and Fujimoto were making such a  big deal out of this. Yeah, I knew people. But I should be allowed my secrets and privacy. They didn’t need to know everything about me. And the right to know because we were related by blood? What was that all about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so how does everyone feel about the idea of a fourth part to this series being a ghost hunt crossover. The third part is going to be with ouran high so it's not even the weirdest possibility


	17. The Bus Ride Back Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but like it also includes so much more than just the end of the bus ride lmao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW so this chapter actually contains the one scene that started this entire 4 part (minimum) series. It all started when I had a dream while falling asleep to this song and then this entire universe was born??? so I didn't do a good job of it, but you know what it's here now. This chapter was longer cuz I felt bad for the lack of plot but there will still be a lot of lack of plot in the future just so I can attempt to flesh out characters but not really. also I recognize that karma is actually a sadistic asshole and I've been giving him too much empathy but I'll blame that on Rin's influence on my characterization. He'll be more of an asshole in the future stories when he's away from this trauma filled school that is forcing him to face his feelings.

Karma/Rin P.O.V

Yukio frowned, clearly displeased with my answers, but I was really not excited about answering any of them. He needs to learn the valuable lesson of leaving well enough alone. Stop while he’s ahead and all that. 

I close my eyes and rub at my temples to try and stave off the headache I know I’m going to have after losing that much blood. “Is that all? You feel like you have the right to know all of my secrets out of some misguided sense of family, so is there anything else you want to know that I’m not going to tell you?” I snapped, getting irritated with the fact that I now had a headache and it was basically their fault too. 

This was such bullshit.

Yukio looked offended at my snapping and he sniffed, turning slightly. He didn’t move far though, it looked like Shiemi was beginning to doze off on his shoulder, the the goody two shoes in my brother wasn’t going to let him disturb her just because he was frustrated. I made a little ‘that’s what I thought’ huff and shifted in my seat to get more comfortable clearly no one was going to speak up. 

“You mentioned earlier when you were fighting Shura-sensei that it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve killed a teacher. What did you mean by that?” Shiemi asked softly, her eyes half closed as she snuggled into my brother’s side, too tired to blush at how intimate a position she was in. I groaned quietly, of fucking course someone was going to ask.

I looked around, seeing the eager looks on everyone’s tired faces. “Yes Rin, I would like to hear more about that. That is a rather concerning comment to make.” Fujimoto said in a cautious manner. I rolled my eyes, displeased with their persistence.

“Fucking fine.” I grumbled, ignoring Bitch-sensei’s call of ‘language’ from her spot in the front of the bus. “First of all, none of you were supposed to hear that besides Shura, so I have no idea why you know. And second of all, it’s once again none of your business? It was for the greater good I assure you.” I said snarkily, pulling out my lighter and flicking it open and closed.

The blue glow was relaxing and I let the flames dance across my palms while I figured out how I was supposed to answer this question. I couldn’t just tell the truth because that was still top secret with the government, and I wasn’t about to risk myself to tell some assholes about me. But I also couldn’t exactly tell them that I was just joking because there’s no way that they would believe me. 

The opening sentence I just said didn’t help all that much either. 

“Circumstances were out of my control.” I said slowly, “It was either me or him, and I obviously chose him.” There. That should be good enough, right? 

Konekomaru paled slightly curling into himself. “Y-you’ve killed p-p-people before?!” he stuttered, a terrified look on his face. I bared my teeth at him, deciding to be a little shit. 

“Who hasn’t anymore? He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last. Sometimes monsters just need to be dealt with. Not all monsters are supernatural.” I said, my eyes reflecting the low light and practically glowing in the dark. He shuddered, and on that note, almost everyone else looked away. Fujimoto looked troubled, but he didn’t say anything either.

And that was the end of that.

We all sat in silence for a while, just staring out the dark windows at the passing fields. It all felt kind of odd, like reality was slightly distorted in the white noise. There was no one else on the narrow road, and there was no street lights. Even the lights in the bus had been turned off, leaving us all in the cover of darkness to contemplate what had been divulged in the passing conversation. 

It was silent except for the sound of the bus and the wind whipping past the windows that didn’t fully close. I closed my eyes as I leaned my head back against the window with a soft thunk. The glass was cool and helped sooth my headache, but because we were driving on a dirt road, the bus bounced a lot and I just ended up bruising the back of my head so I leaned it against the leather seat instead. 

Everything felt really weird, like that sensation you have when you first wake up in the morning but you haven’t stopped reaming yet. Yes, this entire situation felt almost dream like. I was sure that if I opened my eyes again I’d see white glowing orbs flying through the air softly, like lost spirits. But i was trying to sleep off some of my exhaustion before I stopped by Purgatory so I didn’t bother opening my eyes. I think I heard my bag clatter to the ground, but I didn’t pay much attention to the muffled noise as I dozed, vaguely aware of the (surprisingly) natural silence on the bus.

It seems that the others had followed my lead and begun to doze off for the ride back to True Cross. Today had been a long day for everyone, and it was just best to sleep it off. Besides, at times like this one really didn’t feel the passage of time like anywhere else. It was like being in limbo. Unnatural; unsettling. 

 

* * *

 

Before I knew it, we were back at True Cross. I felt the bus slow to a stop on cobble stone road, and then the lights flickered on. I winced at the abrupt brightness, but sat up nonetheless and filed out of the bus along with the others. We all crowded around the side of the bus, exchanging glances as the last of us got out of the bus. Father Fujimoto and Shura remaining in the buses doorway. 

“Why don’t you guys head back to your dorms. I will be taking my leave, but I expect you to report to class early tomorrow for the results of this diagnostic test.” Fujimoto said before closing the bus door and driving off. My eyebrow twitched as he just left us without telling us anything else or even giving us the opportunity to respond. 

I scowl, and clutch my bag tightly, ignoring the twinges in my arm. “Well, I have some business to conduct. I will be leaving as well.” and then I stalk off because for some reason I’m in a fowl mood. I don’t quite know why, but maybe it was because of how I woke up from my nap. Whatever.

I vaguely heard Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei tell the others that they were going to talk to Mephisto, but then nothing more. I was walking too fast. I think that Yukio might have wanted to tell us all something, but it was too late because by then I was gone.

 

* * *

 

Yukio P.O.V

After watching Rin walk away, I turned to face the cram class. Shura and Father Fujimoto had both gone to take the bus back wherever Father Fujimoto had gotten it in the first place, and Karasuma-san and Jelavich-san had begun to make their way back towards the school. Something about talking to Mephisto Pheles about the mission. I didn’t really pay all that much attention. 

Everyone had taken naps on the bus, so most of us were actually surprisingly awake. I turn to the teenagers that were standing around me, “hey, why don’t we do something fun to celebrate doing well of that mission?” I suggested, getting surprised looks from my students. 

“What?” I asked after seeing their scandalized faces. “We did well today, I think that we all deserve a break from school and the pressure of it all, so why don’t we head to a club? Has anyone heard of anything that would let us in?” I ask, my mouth getting away from me when I began suggesting we go to a club. Seriously we were all varying degrees of underage - what type of club would let us in?

Apparently there was some because Shima frowned before raising his hand slightly. “Well, I think I’ve heard of a place.” He said slowly, not looking any of us in the eye. “I was meeting up with some classmates and they were talking about this club run by some hush hush gang. They let teens in without any questions asked. You follow their rules and you don’t get kicked. Laws don’t apply there.” He said, shifting nervously. 

Now normally I would rather avoid something like that - seriously? Gang run? - but I wanted to treat my fellow teens. Maybe act more rebellious. I was a child of the devil even if I didn’t have any of his powers and was raised by a priest. Maybe I could  _ not  _ be a stuck up stick in the mud for once. 

Well I was at least going to try. 

“Well that sounds great! Lead the way, Shima-san.” I said, “oh and no one should feel obligated to come with us, it’s just some fun.” I said, just to make sure that everyone (namely Shiemi and Konekomaru since I knew the others would be fine with this) was okay with going. But nobody spoke up so we all followed Shima, dropping off our bags in my office on the way. 

We went down some streets and eventually ended up in a dead end alley with shadows resting at the end, so we couldn’t see what was ahead of us. There was tons of graffiti covering the walls, and going with the dark, it almost looked like we were walking back into the abyss and its swirling tentacles were reaching out to grab us. I stiffened slightly at the reminder of the disastrous excuse of an exwire exam. 

Shima lead us farther into the alleyway, and soon enough I was able to make out the outline of a door. Almost as if being summoned by our gaze, the door opened with an odd red light emanating from the crack and someone stepped out to greet us. When we got closer, I realized that he was actually the ‘bouncer’. 

The bouncer, who was also a teenage boy. Definitely not something that any of them had expected. He was wearing a shirt that zipped up in the front and showed his toned midriff. One sleeve was cut off at the shoulder and bound with bandages much like his pants which were bound at the knee on one leg and the ankle on another. He had ordinary brown hair and eyes, but he was so pale that I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't seen the sun in years. 

He stared at us with the most impressive poker face I’ve ever seen before he broke out into a bright smile. “Oh, Red-kun will be very happy to see that you’re here! He predicted you would come!” he said, his smile looking plastic and forced. This guy was obviously not meant for diplomacy if he was so easy to read. Well, read was used lightly because sure it was easy to tell that he was fake, but it was also ridiculously hard to see what his actual feelings on the matter were. It was kind of frustrating.

I smiled and ignored the odd foreboding feeling that was creeping up my spine. It would just be better if I ignored it. “Thank you…” I trailed off, giving the stranger a chance to supply me with a name.

He blinked for a moment, just smiling stiffly before he seemed to realize what I was doing. “Oh! You can just call me Sai, it’s what I go by here.” he said with false ernesty. I shivered a bit, but I continued on anyways. We had just dealt with a really crappy case, and the team deserved some fun, although this mysterious Red-san…

“...Sai-san, but who is this Red-san you speak of? As far as I know, I don’t know anyone that would be involved in this sort of thing?” I said confused. Sai continued to smile serenely, but he waved us on in, in the universal ‘follow me’ gesture.

“Oh don’t worry about that. You’ll know him when you see him. But for now, why don’t you just find a table to sit at. People will come find you.” he said cryptically. The others shifted uneasily, but they followed Sai, blindly trusting that he wouldn’t lead us wrong. Izumo looked a little uncertain, but she walked along beside us, not wanting to be left behind. I couldn’t really blame her, we’d just walked into a dark alleyway and were now going down a dark corridor leading to who knows where.

Why we were following the pale teen anywhere remained a mystery. But honestly I was just too confused and curious to do anything else. I needed to know who was expecting us in a place like this. I suppose I probably could have picked a better club, but this was one of the ones that catered to people like us that didn’t really fit the normal scene. Sure it must have some normal partiers, but I’d heard from one of the other exorcists I took my exam with that Purgatory was a good place to network if you wanted some allies on the downlow.    


Maybe if we couldn’t enjoy ourselves while partying we could find out some more about the other local exorcists that weren’t necessarily Vatican approved. Baez had to come from somewhere, and this is just the kind of place that Rin the delinquent would have frequented in his youth. God why do I sound so damn stiff? We were still young, just in our first year of high school. 

Sai leads us down a series of hallways, passing doors with solid and transparent doors all the while. Some places lead to what looked like miniature tattoo parlours, and others looked like… sounds studios? There even seemed to be multiple conference rooms. What was this place? Because right now it looks more like some high end bar than a club.

However I was quickly proven wrong about my secondary assumption when we left the hallways and entered a large room. Almost like an auditorium, but more like a mix between a concert hall and a bar. In the back of the room there was two separate bar islands - one alcoholic and the other appearing to cater to a younger audience. It was a weird way to uh do things, but it looked like there was a bunch of teens our age sitting around that bar. A couple had brightly dyed hair, but they were all wearing the same uniform. It looked to be a modified version of a military stealth uniform. 

The rest of the room had some tables and chairs, but most people were crowded on the dance floor talking, drinking, laughing, and listening to the band that was playing on the stage at the front of the room. We could’ve gone to one of the other empty tables, but for some reason I was drawn to the bar with the oddly dressed teens. 

As we made our way over there in a clump, a small teen with bright bluebell blue hair looked up from where he...she...they? were talking to the bartender who was wearing a plain school uniform, to stare directly at me. I nearly froze at the unexpected eye contact, but from I managed to learn about social cues was that it was very important to maintain eye contact once it was initiated. 

He cocked his head to the side, his gaze frigid and calculating as he took all of us in. But then he waved us over, so now we had to go there or risk offending this stranger and possibly making an enemy. The Kyoto Trio were scowling, but they went along with it nonetheless. Shiemi was pressed to my side, glancing around at all the people uncertainly as she was dragged along by the group. Izumo was the only one who confidently walked over and plopped down on one of the bar stools. 

We all followed her lead, although some of us more comfortably than others. I looked nervously at the blue haired teen that had beckoned us over. “Hello? I’m sure I haven’t met you before…” I began, awkwardly trying to start the conversation without trying to sound all that rude. The teen smiled - his expression disarming, but there was an odd cold feeling under it too; like a snake - and turned his body so that it was facing the bar in front of us. 

He snapped something in a foreign language (I think it was English, but I can’t be sure) at the bartender before looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “No, I’m sure you haven’t.” he said, his voice calm and soothing, but fitting his face and still remaining chilly. “I’m one of your brother’s friends. We went to school together.” he said casually, delicately sipping out of the straw in the colourful drink.

“You know Rin?” I asked surprised. This was not the kind of person I expected to encounter when meeting people from Rin’s past. I expected gang members and delinquents after hearing about Baez, although I suppose that I could understand if he knew some prep kids. I had seen his transcripts and he came from Kunugikaoka which was a very prestigious school. It was no surprise he was arrogant.

But this teen? Despite the fact that he was wearing a stealth military-esque uniform, he looked so small. He was about the same height as Shiemi and had a very androgynous appearance. He didn’t look like much, but yet there was still that underlying uneasy feeling I felt around him. However, based off his serene facial expressions and tone of voice, I had a feeling that the only reason my fight or flight instincts were acting up was because he was allowing me to see a small bit of the danger I was in. 

If he had wanted, I would have no idea that he was a possible foe until it was too late.

 

* * *

 

Bon P.O.V

I don’t really get why we were sitting at the bar talking to these people, but for some reason, Yukio found it important so we stayed so that we could avoid being separated. I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the blue haired teen, but as the conversation between Yukio and the teen progressed, I found myself tuning in. The curiosity to find out more about the Satan spawn was strong. But I couldn’t actually figure out why. Why did I care?

“See when I knew him,” the stranger was saying softly as they fiddled with the drink they held in their hands. “He went by another name. One, I think that fits him infinitely better than ‘Rin’ or ‘Okumura’ ever could. I’ll honestly never know him as anything else.” The bluenette sighed in an almost wistful manner before sipping their fruity cocktail that I honestly couldn't tell if it was alcoholic or not. Judging by the multiple bars and the number of underage teens sitting at this table, it probably wasn’t though.

I rolled my eyes and glared over at the red headed demon spawn who was currently talking with another group of people dressed up just like the bluenette I was talking to. (Does everyone have an exciting hair colour here? What even is with Rin’s so called friends? Maybe this is why he turned out to be such a dick.) None of the others seemed to notice this because they were too engrossed in what little information that the mysterious teen was divulging to care that Rin was sitting literally a table over and listening in on everything that we were being told. His cold gold eyes glinting in the low light as he looked over the rim of a glass at us. It was filled with ice and an amber liquid, but in the past couple minutes despite how he appeared to be calmly sipping it, the volume hadn’t decreased. 

The military style teens looked like they were reporting something to him as he nodded slowly, looking at them as he placed his glass down. His lips barely moved as he told them something, gesturing with his hand towards us. The other teens looked shocked before turning on the puppy dog eyes and seemed to be pleading with him. What could they possibly be asking for.

The song the live band was playing ended, and they moved on to something a bit more pop than the previous rock song. 

I turn back to the conversation at hand. “Yeah? And what would that be?” I challenged. The bluenette seemed to be pretty determined to keep information to himself, but maybe direct questions might earn me even a glimpse at who Rin is behind his knowing smirk and his smug confidence. There had to be a point where he wasn't like he was now. 

He’d certainly been nicer, if not still a little confrontational, before his lineage was revealed. I mean, he was a down right ball of sunshine at times. A ball of sunshine that liked to  _ cook _ . What the fuck. 

That's when a small girl - even smaller than the bluenette I was attempting to interrogate - wearing a rather modest school uniform (a horrifying yellow dress with a high colour and even white stockings) bounced up towards the stranger. She had bright green almost turquoise hair, which only served to further prove my theory that Rin only knows odd people. 

“Hello Nagisa-kun!” She squealed before pressing a kiss to the bluenette’s (they were a boy?) cheek. Then her eyes flickered up to stare at me through her lashes. What should have been a sultry look was spoiled by the sheer blood lust in the seemingly harmless girls eyes. She was a threat even if everything my eyes saw screamed the opposite. “Who’s your friend over here.” 

It wasn't phrased as a question, but the stranger- Nagisa, answered anyways. I couldn't help but think that this ‘show’ they were putting on was for my benefit. And by benefit, I really mean detriment. They were not friendly, not matter what their body language suggested. “Why, don't you recognize him? He's one of Karma’s pathetic classmates.  Suguru Ryuji , I believe his nickname is Bon. He’s one of the more openly racist ones.” The way Nagisa said it was so matter of fact that I couldn't help but flinch. 

“Now listen here, it was like-” I froze, feeling the blood drain from my face. “I never told you my name, or who I was.” I said, my blood running cold. How did he know? And who was Karma? That was a rather odd name, especially in Japan. Was he perhaps a foreign student? But that still didn’t explain why he knew who I was and why he was bringing up this Karma. “Who’s karma?” I glare, irrationally angry at how the situation was rapidly devolving into something that I didn’t know how to handle. 

Nagisa smirked and twirled his straw between his fingers in an effortless way. “Hmm, I thought you were more intelligent than this Suguru-san.” he purred, leaning slightly into the green haired girl’s side as if to whisper conspiratorially. “I said I knew Yukio’s elder brother from middle school, and that I knew him by a different name. And then I introduce you as one of Karma’s classmates. Karma is who you know as Rin Okumura. And I know your name because I’ve done extensive research on all of you. I need to know who I’m leaving our leader with.” he said, glancing at where Rin or err, Karma was sitting. 

The red headed son of Satan was currently being fussed over by another teen and looking like he was not having a good time. The blond haired boy (were all of Rin’s classmates foreign?) was holding onto Rin’s arm and looking angrily at the red tinged bandages. He was speaking rapidly, but I couldn’t hear it over the music that the live band played. “Your leader?” he frowned. 

Nagisa and the green haired girl just smirked. The green haired girl in the poofy yellow dress opened her mouth as if to respond, but that was when all of our eyes were drawn to the stage as the entire room began to quiet down. Whispers ran rampant as we all stared at the stage. The band had stopped playing, leaving an almost awkward quiet to fall over the room. The band was tuning their instruments again and just fiddling with controls. However, it was the figure that was climbing on the stage that really drew our attention.

It was Rin or err, Karma. He strode forward confidently, his black outfit a stark contrast to the colourful graffiti filled backdrop. He stalked towards the microphone and then shot a cocky grin at the audience, showing off his sharp fangs and pointy tongue. “Hello my lovelies, how has everyone been tonight? Are we having fun?” he asked, and much to my surprise, got a roar of cheers as a response. 

Nagisa smiled, this time the grin on his face was genuine as it reached his eyes. “You guys are in for a real treat tonight. Karma hasn’t performed since that one time in our second year. Hmmm, you might want to pay attention to what he sings. Maybe you’ll learn something.” he said in a purposefully vague way just to confuse us. 

“Well one song from me and then I’ll let the band continue their thing. Just have some feelings to vent and then we’ll return to our regularly scheduled evening.” Rin said and the crowd went wild. I felt my eyebrows disappear into my hairline at the reaction. Why were they so excited? Rin was the leader of a group of people? People who apparently did extensive background checks? And why was Rin even here?

Rin stepped closer to the microphone and cued the band to start. A beautiful simple acoustic guitar began to echo through the air as Rin let out a surprisingly smooth voice. 

 

_ I can hold my breath _

_ I can bite my tongue _

_ I can stay awake for days _

_ If that’s what you want _

_ Be your number one _

 

The song was a slow ballad, which honestly surprised me almost as much as how good Rin was at singing - but I’ll get to that later. It wasn’t the type of song that one would expect a delinquent to even listen to, but at the same time it was oh so obvious. Rin had been harping at us about racism for weeks now. How we blindly hated him because of who his father is. 

I still found it odd that he would be fine with us hating him because of his personality but apparently hating that’s he’s the  _ frickin’ son of Satan  _ wasn’t good enough?

Also his voice. Not that I’m in to men (let alone demon spawn!) but his voice was beautiful. I don’t tend to use that word all that much, but now it was the only thing coming to mind at the sound of his voice. He was putting on a good show too, acting all sad and somber. 

 

_ I can fake a smile _

_ I can force a laugh _

_ I can dance and play the part _

_ If that’s what you ask _

_ Give you all I am _

 

Some of the band members began to sing softly, making the vocals thick with harmonies that really complimented Rin’s voice and the rising guitar for the upcoming bridge. 

You could practically feel the emotion that he was trying so hard to put into this song. He meant every word that he sung. I hadn’t heard this song before, but it sounded emo as shit. 

 

_ I can do it _

_ I can do it _

_ I can do it _

 

The guitar was rising and the vocals in the background too. The crowd was even getting into it as Rin almost bounced on stage, like he was psyching himself up for something. Then, everything abruptly cut off for a split second before Rin sang the next line. It was the line after that that brought back in the soft instrumental music. 

 

_ But [I’m only human](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jEKKUTEDM)  
_

_ And I bleed when I fall down _

_ I’m only human _

_ And I crash and I break down _

_ Your words in my head, knives in my heart _

_ You build me up and then I fall apart _

_ I’m only human, ah~ _

 

Suddenly, my suspicions were confirmed. He  _ had  _ picked this song, just so that he could make a point. The point being that we were all assholes for hating him because of his demonic origins despite our pasts which more than gave us the right to. We were within our rights! He was being ridiculous. He wasn’t human. He was only half at best, and even that I doubted. 

Either way his demonic heritage had a strong hold over who he was. He didn’t act like a normal teen - he acted more like a stupid mob boss or something. He was a sadistic bastard, so it was almost scary to see this much… emotion on his face.

 

_ I can turn it on _

_ Be a good machine _

_ I can bear the weight of worlds _

_ If that’s what you need _

_ I can be your everything _

 

The backup vocals had picked back up after he finished the first chorus. I barely noticed it, but a couple more oddly dressed teens had come to join Nagisa and they were all watching Rin as he sang with an almost fond look.

“I haven’t heard him sing like that in a while,” the green haired girl said, looking fondly at Nagisa. A lankier teen with light brown hair and a rather forgettable face nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s been awhile since he really let loose, hasn’t it.” he said in a rhetorical manner. They continued to whisper to each other quietly. I was barely able to hear them over the music, but I’d heard enough.

So what Nagisa had said was true. They had known Rin before he was… Rin. The goofy tragic teen that loved to cook had just been a facade. Rin Okumura had never been real. They’d known him as Karma, and he hadn’t had to hide this side of himself from them. They seemed to accept and even appreciate the fact that he was a sadistic bastard. They acted like it was normal. They acted like what wasn’t normal was the fact that he was showing his emotions like this.

 

_ I can do it _

_ I can do it _

_ I'll get through it _

 

His eyes found the groups of people in the odd uniforms. He smiled fondly at them, seeming to gain some confidence (did he really need more?) from the mere fact that they were there in the audience. It was odd, seeing him like this. He actually looked vulnerable. He looked human, but that wasn’t right. He was just some good for nothing demon.

 

_ But I’m only human _

_ And I bleed when I fall down _

_ I’m only human  _

_ And I crash and I break down _

_ Your words in my head, knives in my heart _

_ You build me up and then I fall apart _

_ I’m only human _

 

Some of the sadness had been removed from the song, now it was almost- no it  _ was  _ angry. You could see it in his eyes even from here. They were glowing an unnatural gold as pure fury took over his face. He was venting - admittedly an odd and almost tv-esque way to vent but it looked like it was working for him. 

Up until now, he had avoided looking in our direction, but at now he did. He found me first, no doubt due to my hair, and he held my gaze for an unsettling amount of time. I felt odd, like something was off. He shouldn’t be staring at me like that. Sure I’d shunned the guy, but with a personality like that I can’t have been the first.

And people are going to hate you, that’s just life. Why did his gaze make me feel like I was in the wrong? His dad was the one who murdered my entire family! I didn’t do anything to him.

Did I?

Could we have been… wrong in the way that we treated him?

 

_ Only human _

_ Only human _

_ Just a little human _

 

We’d been taught all our lives that demons were evil. That they all needed to be destroyed so that we could be safe. Rin was practically the prime example of evil; sadistic, conniving, almost toxically ambitious, and the son of Satan.  _ Satan.  _ What could be more evil than that?

 

_ I can take so much _

_ Until I’ve had enough _

 

The anger had fled his frame, leaving behind only exhaustion. Judging by Nagisa’s wide eyed stare, this show of vulnerability was a rarity. Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t like the guy, but at the same time I was awed by the performance in front of me. It was impossible for me to doubt his sincerity, even though I know him to be a trickster and a liar. 

I’d never seen him like this before, this wasn’t any type of Rin that he’d shown us. 

Was this the moment that he’d had enough? Had we taken things that step too far? He’d been remarkably tolerant of our disgust for a while now, only attacking us with words. He didn’t really fight back, and we’d seen him fight. We should be grateful. He would have destroyed us in a second if he could take down Shura like he did. 

He’d been far kinder than he should have been. 

 

_ ‘Cause I’m only human _

_ And I bleed when I fall down _

_ I’m only human _

_ And I crash and I break down _

_ Your words in my head, knives in my heart _

_ You build me up and then I fall apart _

 

He just looked tired now. The fire was gone from his eyes for but a split second before he regained his composure. It was a very visible thing, when his cocky facade slid back on, leaving an arrogant and gleeful smirk on his face. All traces of other emotions were gone. The sadistic piece of shit was back.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to react.

 

_ I’m only human _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates are every 14 days my dudes 
> 
> feel free to comment if you have questions!


	18. Purgatory (Continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHIT IM SORRY I MISSED POSTING YESTERDAY EVEN THOUGH THE CHAPTER WAS DONE!

Bon P.O.V

We all sort of just sat stunned as Rin finished singing, his eyes closed, only a thin sheet of skin hiding the blazing gold orbs from view. Rin was actually good at singing, and the words of his song resonated in us. Were we right to treat him how we did?

Suddenly I wasn’t as confident in my answer to that question as I was before.

We didn’t have much time to ponder that because in the instant it took us to look away from the stage people appeared out of nowhere. We were surrounded, teens all dressed like Nagisa appearing out of nowhere. Their faces were covered in shadows, all except for mysterious red glowing eyes that shouldn't have been possible. They had sinister smiles on their faces, like the ones that Rin made whenever his sadistic side made an appearance. Usually he was cold and calculating, but every now and then an almost playful side appeared. He was as sadistic as any demon of his caliber should have been, I'd just never expected to see that face on humans.

The atmosphere was oppressive and the air was thick with tension. I couldn’t move from the fear instinct that had been triggered by being surrounded. No one in the club paid us any attention. We would be getting no help from bystanders.

“So,” a girl with long blonde hair purred as she moved a bit closer, “you’re the cram class kids, aren’t you?” she asked, grinning sinisterly as she trailed a finger down the side of Shima’s face. “I hear you’ve been giving Karma-kun some trouble. That’s not very nice.”

An intimidating and beefy teen stepped up next, fiddling with a gun that seemingly appeared out of nowhere as he leaned forward towards me. He was grinning just like all the others, but his proximity allowed me to see his eyes. I honestly couldn’t tell what was worse at this point. His gleeful and sinister eyes, the glowing red dots that made up the other teens’ eyes, or the Jikininki that we just faced. They were _that_ creepy okay.

He was breathing heavily as he stared at us hungrily, but he didn’t say anything. No, that was left to a petite black haired girl beside him. She was wearing glasses that were reflecting the light so I couldn’t see her eyes, and her hair was done up in braids. She looked out of place in her uniform. For some reason, I felt like she should have been in a business suit and pencil skirt with some heels. She had a commanding and serious presence. Like your stereotypical personal assistant, but with more murder.

“Judging by your vacant expressions you have no idea who we are. I was sure you would have guessed from Nagisa’s introduction, but it can’t be helped. We are the Class E alumni of Kunugikaoka. All of us have ranked in the top 50 of our school and we were taught by Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei for the entire year. You don’t know us, but we know you, so stop messing with Karma. If he’d wanted to take you out, then you would have been long dead. Don’t make assumptions about thing you don’t know. It is foolish.” she declared in a monotone tone. She didn’t once look up, only moving to adjust her glasses to make them even brighter.

I gulped involuntarily. All my instincts were telling me to run far far away from these people. I shouldn’t be messing with them. That’s when another teen appeared out of nowhere, seemingly unbothered by the oppressive air that had surrounded us. He was wearing a school uniform - one of the really high class ones that only the richest of the rich could afford - that was crisp and clearly well taken care of. Appearance was a great pride for him. He looked rather plain, but striking at the same time. Black hair and glasses that reflected the light much like the girl’s had. He was tall too, towering over everyone of us and the others.

“Yes, I have to say that you’ve all displeased a great number of influential people in your attempt to shun Karma for something he has absolutely no control over. If you could avoid from being absolute morons that would work in all of our favours. I have the money and they have the skills to make you disappear. I suggest you leave here and rethink your actions.” he smiled, although not a blood thirsty one like the teens that were just oozing K.I. (killer intent - I thought that was only a thing in anime, but this situation proved me wrong). His voice was cold and detached, and I could see now that this was probably what Rin had been trying to imitate after the reveal.

Not one to back down, I opened my mouth to retort, but I was interrupted by the arrival of the demon spawn himself. “Now, now, there’s no need to threaten them. I’m sure they’re all coming to their own conclusions now. Perhaps, they’ll have gotten over their bigotry.” he said, smirking at us in a self-satisfied manner. Okay, I may have hated him for being a demon but he was also an asshole and that was a perfectly good reason to hate him.

We’d never get along, but maybe we were being a little too harsh. I mean, they did have a point, Rin had no control over the fact that his father is the king of all demons. Sure he was a jerk, but if Nagisa’s word was to be taken as the truth, then that was just how he grew up to be. Some people are just assholes - even if that might be due to his demonic traits…

But the point is that I’ve sort of been ignoring the fact that he was also half human as well.

Suddenly the horrific heavy feeling that had permeated the hair was gone. The teens had just… disappeared? There was significantly less people around us? Where did they go? What?

All that was left was Rin and the demonic rich kid. Even Nagisa had disappeared in that moment. It was disconcerting that they could move that fast and silently. Something was off, but I just couldn’t figure what. The glasses guy - he didn’t say his name yet, I wonder why - was whispering in hushed tones to Rin and getting him to look at some things in the black notebook that I just now noticed he was holding.

From here I could see line after line of neat scrawl and numbers and other figures. I had no idea what any of it actually meant, but Rin at least seemed to understand. We were left sitting awkwardly, sipping quietly at the fruity drinks in front of us as we watched them hiss and talk shop. That’s when the teen that had been serving us threw his towel over his shoulder and began to walk away, making way for a tall purple haired man.

He swept in, easily organizing things around his shelves and began mixing orders like he’d been there the entire time. His unique purple hair clued me in almost immediately to who he was. “Garry,” I whisper unintentionally. He looks up, his eyes cold and calculating as he stares me down. I thought that Rin had mastered the cool smug fire, but this was something else. Unlike Rin, Garry’s face was completely devoid of emotion.

Almost at all times, Rin had a smirk on his face making everyone feel inferior and angry; like he knew something we didn’t. Garry just stared coldly at us like our existence was only a hindrance to him. There was an underlying malice, but that was as far as it went. For a demon, he seemed incredibly cool headed and in control. I imagine that that’s due to the fact that he was human for 18 years before being killed and revived as a demon.

I would have forgotten he existence of Garry entirely had it not been for Rin summoning those damn dolls. We hadn’t seen the rose haired man since Paku’s funeral. He’d just disappeared. Apparently, it was to go here to work.

“Ah, if it isn’t the cram class. It’s been awhile.” He says as he casually begins wiping down glasses. Too casually. He wasn’t all that great of an actor. I’ve heard about your last mission, it’s amazing only one student was seriously injured.” He said, filling a glass and passing it to a waiting teenager who downed it and left to go dance. He began cleaning the glass once more.

Yukio stiffened. “Yes we were very fortunate that nothing more occured. We hadn’t expected the demon to be of that level. By the time we had the full story, Father Fujimoto had already promised the clients aid. I’m sure Karasuma-san will be picking mission from now on, since all the Vatican chosen ones have been well above our paygrade, even if they did end up ending successfully.” Yukio admitted.

Garry raised an eyebrow, his eyes flashing with hidden power. “That depends of course, on what you consider to be successful.” He says mysteriously, causing Shima and Konekomaru to shift uneasily. Izumo was pointedly staring at the remains of her colourful slush drink. The little umbrella had fallen from the side, she poked it with her straw. “Anyhow, I do believe it’s time you take your leave.” We nodded, Yukio forking up the cash.

Rin was still speaking with the glasses wearing terror and Garry watched as we left, going through the designated exit. Rin would do as he pleases and return when he wanted to. He wasn’t our responsibility and he’d proven more than capable of taking care of himself. For now, we all had a lot of thinking to do.

 

* * *

 

 

Rin/Karma P.O.V

Well that was an emotionally charged event. I don’t know what possessed me to sing like that, but for some reason I just felt like it had to happen. Have your arguments about fate vs. free will, but I’m a strong believer in intuition. My instincts have saved me more times than I’d like to admit.

Surprisingly, my instincts were right and the cram class showed up just in time for my performance. Figures. They were talking with Class E for a bit too before I could get to them. Luckily for me they hadn’t said much about my past other than giving them hints - and they hadn’t even mentioned my little stunts from over the years. Kyoya however… needless to say he was displeased with me injuring myself to protect Izumo. She apparently ‘wasn’t worth it’ but what happened happened and we can’t change that.

Isogai and Maehara had already chewed me out about my lack of painkillers but they understood enough about me to let it go. Kyoya was just a mother hen. By the time I had finished talking with him, the cram class had left the building and I was left almost alone with Garry at the bar. People were beginning to trickle out of the room as the night began to wind down. We did close the club at 2 in the morning, but most people did end up leaving well before that.

We cater to students as well, and they could only realistically party for so long before having to get back to their dorms so that they wouldn’t be late for classes the next day. Either way, the bar was now a lot more quiet, so Garry had time to talk to me and me alone without pissing off customers.

“How’s you arm?” He asked softly, wiping down the bar while still looking me in the eye. I shifted on my bar stool, rubbing at the edges of the bandages.

“S’not great, but it could be worse. With how I heal I should be fine in a couple of days. It’s not that big of a deal.” We sat in silence for a couple more minutes, just sort of staring at each other.

“You know that I don’t like it when you put yourself in danger.”

“Better me than her. I heal fast.”

I knew he would never agree with me, but at the very least he could understand my logic. Demons could do things that humans just couldn’t. Even a half demon like myself had some pretty nice advantages. Plus, it wouldn’t put me out of commission like it would have done Izumo. I can get right back up and continue going after this was treated. If Izumo had been bitten, she could have bled out - my blood is thicker, it congeals faster - and then she would have just been dead weight.

She wouldn’t have been able to hide it during school hours - would have obviously favoured one arm. I’m ambidextrous and I know how to deal with injuries. It just made sense. Plus people would assume I just got into a fight if they did notice it, with Izumo it would draw a lot of attention. I already piss off a lot of people, what with my ease in academic intelligence and my proclivity for verbal take downs. It would be a long time coming.

Garry should understand this. He’d had to have been done with high school before the Fabricated World. He should know just how tough it is. Admittedly, he theoretically wouldn’t have had to deal with demons and shit, but high school is enough on its own. Especially on girls who aren’t your traditional pretty and subservient. Unless you knew how to work the system, it would eat you alive.

“How have things been?” I ask to break the silence.

Garry shrugs, smiling softly at me and shaking his violet hair. “It’s fine. Some of your classmates have been covering any of the missions that would have required your attention otherwise. From what I hear, they’re quite good. The customers are satisfied with their services.” Now that might sound bad out of context, but in context it was great news. I might be one of the best, but the E Class had received training very similar if not identical to my own. I just took it to another level on my own.

While I do miss being out in the field - with how things have been lately I doubt I’d be able to actually get out without being caught and subsequently questioned. I’d blown enough of my cover, and I was desperately trying to hold onto the last pieces of it. I never thought that things would dissolve like this, but when the supernatural is involved, it’s best to just throw the plan out the window now.

But my classmates were handling assassinations meant for the best while still keeping with my signature so yes, I am proud and for good reason. And the customers aren’t complaining about it not being me - praise all deities.

“That’s good. Are you holding up okay? I know we haven’t had the chance to really spend time together lately. But I should be getting a break soon. My evenings might be less… watched. I believe Fujimoto might be taking a back seat from now on. Especially after the stunt that he pulled with this case.” I say, twirling a little umbrella around my fingers. “I should be able to meet ya here a bit more than before. But I have no idea what we’ll be doing tomorrow.”

He sighed before leaning forward and kissing me. “We’ll work around it.” He whispered into my lips before withdrawing and finishing cleaning up his station. “You need to get some sleep. I’ll walk you back to your dorm and stay the night.” He said, grabbing his coat out from under the bar and closing. Another one of the bartenders still watching the bar and handling the last stragglers that weren’t still on the floor and were cutting themselves off.

The next morning was far from what I was expecting. School was of course normal, even if my arm ached throughout the day, Sugino knew what happened and was able to steer Shindou’s concern away. Izumo avoided us, which was kind of surprising, but I was fine with that and sort of just left it alone. This case and last night left a lot for everyone to process - me included. I was just happy that we didn’t have any run ins with the Kyoto Trio or my brother. Yukio had been asleep when I’d gotten home last night and I’d gotten ready before him, so I avoided _that_ confrontation.

Or at least postponed it.

As always, my classes never changed and I was able to complete all my work well ahead of schedule. But it was when I got to the cram class that things were really odd. The hallways were eerily empty as I walked down them, yet the floors and surroundings made no sound upon my entry. It was almost like there was nobody here. Not even me.

So after that trip through distorted reality, I finally made it to the cram class. Despite leaving earlier than everyone else, I was the last one there. Even Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei were sitting in the back and staring. The class was dead silent. Everyone was sitting in their usual seats, but no one was so much as passing notes to each other. Instead they were all looking down at their laps or at the desk.

Yukio was standing at the front, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot as he seemed to be waiting for something. Apparently that something was me because as soon as he set his eyes on my figure in the doorway his entire frame seemed to relax. “Oh thank God,” I heard his whisper under his breath as he let out a sigh. I quirked an eyebrow but made my way leisurely over to my own seat. I may feel just as uncomfortable with the current atmosphere as everyone else in the room but I was damned if I was not going to pretend everything was fine.

Fake it ‘til ya make it.

Or whatever.

I sat down in my seat, slouching and kicking up my legs to rest on the next desk over in an exaggerated ease. I was comfortable and nothing could phase me.

Yukio took a breath, “I’m sure you’ve noticed the distinct lack of Shura and Father Fujimoto.” Yukio said uncomfortably as he took another step forward, gesturing to the empty seats behind him where the aforementioned duo would sit during classes. “They just had some…” he hesitated slightly, “...business to sort out with the Vatican, but they _will_ be joining us for our next mission. Fortunately, they were not the ones to chose the mission, so there’s a good chance at having less… complications.”

At the news of yet another ‘mission’ not even a full day after the last disaster caused everyone to groan. We’d already missed a lot of classes for this stupid coarse and we’re going to be missing more. Phenomenal. But, at least Yukio was the one to pick the mission. Karma dictates that it probably won’t be life endangering but it will most definitely be boring.

“We’ll be going to a supplier out in the countryside. You’ll need to pack an overnight bag and be plenty ready for some hard work!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...happy new year?
> 
>  
> 
> aLSO I HAVE SOMETHING TO GET YOUR OPINIONS ON - okay so after this story is done there will be a crossover with Ouran High School Host Club, but after that I was wondering how people would feel about a hogwarts crossover? Like dumbledore wants to hire Karma to bodyguard harry during his 5th year or smth. The story that was originally planned (a retelling of Ghost Hunt with Karma instead of Mai and then more new cases to develop plot after) will still be posted of course, but should I do that Harry Potter one? Comment below!
> 
> (lol this series is just so much crack I can't even)


	19. The Most Boring Mission (Seriously WTF Yukio)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking weekly updates from now on. I want this story to be done with, but we have this mission, another mission, and finally the actual plot of the story to finish off the Blue Exorcist crossover.

_ “We’ll be going to a supplier out in the country side. You’ll need to pack an overnight bag and be plenty ready for some hard work!” _

 

* * *

 

Karma/Rin P.O.V

“You gotta be shitting me.” 

The words were out of my mouth before I even knew that I wanted to say something. Honestly I didn’t mean to word it like  _ that _ but well, the sentiment behind the subject of the sentence wasn’t off either. I knew how to deal with pain and I was pretty damn good at it too, but I didn’t fancy popping my stitches with some hard labour. 

“We  _ just  _ got back from our other mission! I still have stitches in my arm, Yukio. Today was the first time we were at our classes in a week! What on earth were you thinking?” I ask incredulously. Seriously? Why did we even need another mission so soon? Couldn’t we just stay in class and learn some more lore? I have essays that need writing and manual labour doesn’t sound like a good environment for that. 

He glares weakly at me, “I know that Okumura-kun but that’s over my head. Mephisto and Father Fujimoto have agreed that since we were scheduled one more day before we are supposed to be back, that we might as well use that time to complete another mission or two. Father Fujimoto is satisfied with how well we did and is planning lessons with Shura.” He said sharply, avoiding answering my question directly. 

“We will simply going to a small ranch outside of the city. The owner of the ranch supplies the Vatican with some hard to get supplies that naturally occur on her ranch. We just need to help her out by harvesting some of them since her son is off at university right now.”

My eyebrow spasmed. Really.  _ Really _ . “Uh yeah, since I have no doubts that those supplies will be used to fight demons, did ya check to see if the things we’ll be ‘harvesting’ will harm me? I’m all for class participation, but if that shit is gonna burn the entire time then I think I’ll have to pass.” I drawl. 

“Language.” Yukio half-heartedly admonished. I rolled my eyes in response and waited for his answer to my very valid question. 

“No, none of it should be toxic to you. I’m told there’s even quite the abundance in Coal Tars milling around there. You should be fine and if you aren’t then you have my permission to do your schoolwork instead. I’m sure the B Classes are reading the same books as us. You can borrow my notes if you need help.” He says almost absentmindedly as he looks over his notes for something. Maybe more information?

I don’t know and I don’t really care either. That’s not my main problem right now. My main problem was Yukio - yet again - making stupid assumptions about me. God, I get that he might be tired, but could he pay a tiny bit of attention to what was happening around him? “Okay first of all, rude. I am not in the B Class, I’m in the A Classes just like you, Spotty Four-Eyes.” I bite out, ready to rant away my frustration and unease. “And I just  _ love  _ how easily you forget that I was the top student at Kunugikaoka and I’m going to damn well keep acting like it. Get down off y’ur high horse for a minute so that you can pull your head out of your ass.”

He looks up from his clipboard with wide eyes as he stares shocked at me. His mouth sort of hangs open as he visibly tries to formulate an answer or a response. 

“Oh right,” he says absently. “You went to Kunugikaoka. I’m sorry, Rin. I just seem to forget due to your demeanor. You have to admit that you act more like a delinquent than a scholar.” 

“Oh so we’re doing this now.” I seethe, “when exactly have I acted like a delinquent? And why can’t delinquents have good grades? You’re stereotyping and that’s offensive!” I counter, nearly crushing the ballpoint pen I was holding in my hand. A quiet tapped rhythm from the back of the class brought me back to myself and I took a deep breath. “What is your damage, Yukio? You making assumptions or callous comments is really beginning to become a problem. You’re not setting a good example, brother dear.” I say, shooting a brief thankful look at Bitch-sensei who was still tapping her long nails on the desk in morse code. 

_ K E E P  Y O U R  C O O L _

Okay, level headed, I could do this. 

“When aren’t you acting like a delinquent.” Okay I don’t think I can do this. 

“You were insufferable when Father Fujimoto was here and you won’t address him in a respectful manner. The man took you in during the summer and he is one of the people you have to convince that you have control over your powers so that you aren’t executed. That is the whole reason you are taking this class, no?” Yukio had an odd look on his face as he said all of this, as if he was reminding himself of these facts more than he was telling them to me. 

He wouldn’t meet Shiemi’s eyes either. How odd. “Well first of all, he was being an asshole first by being racist. Second, he only took me in - after giving me up to the system when I was  _ six  _ \- was because he was suddenly aware that my adoptive parents were dead and Karasuma-sensei found out my birth name was Okumura Rin. I could have lived my entire life away from all of this. And finally, does it look like I care what he thinks of me? The Vatican won’t kill me.” I say confidently, stopping myself before I could reveal  _ why  _ they wouldn’t even try to get rid of me. 

Yukio looked down. “That’s beside the point. You are still a student here for the time being. You will address him by his proper title when he comes back. You will also address me with the respect that someone in my position deserves.” He says with a confidence that I  _ know  _ he isn’t feeling. “Now back to the mission. I will let you go early today, but meet in front of the school at 7 AM tomorrow morning. Don’t be late. Karasuma-san, Jelavich-san, if you will stay back for a bit.”

 

* * *

 

When we arrived at yet another farm, I was ready to revolt. My arm was still twinging and today was the day that I was supposed to be removing the stitches. Thanks to Yukio, I’d now have to do that here. Hard work meant dirty work, and I was not looking forward to trying to keep the dirt and gunk out of my wounds. I’d have to wear a sweater or something to make sure that the bandages didn’t get soaked. 

But that didn’t sound like a fun plan because even from just getting out of the bus (Karasuma-sensei was driving because Fujimoto’s business hadn’t been finished in time for him to join us on the mission - thank fuck) I could feel the heat. There were bogs and different swamp like areas all around the farmland. If you could even call any of that farm land. It was almost entirely swamp, and the water was just radiating heat near us. It must be boiling!

The bus had been parked at the side of the road and we’d walked across rows of brides to get to the main house. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. Just enough that we could probably all fit in one room for the night. It was the bubbling water that was worrying me though. Although, it looked admittedly less daunting the closer we got to the house. There was no longer the wafting heat, although air pockets kept rising to the surface in the form of bubbles. 

It didn’t give me much confidence. 

We walked across the series of bridges and small islands until we reached the front door. Up close, the house looked more like a large shack, but it fit the scene because I honestly doubted that this place felt the effects of the seasons. It seemed to be in an odd limbo - like another world. But despite that, it didn’t feel dangerous. 

It just sorta felt… calm? Yeah, calm. Like a get away from everything. 

Since it was only an overnight trip I had packed lightly and even minimally on the weapons front. The others had taken the same cues and had brought only a small back pack each. Even Shiemi had forgone her usual kimono in favour of something more job appropriate. Yukio had told us to avoid wearing our school uniforms and that casual would be better. I managed to dig out some basic clothes, like sweatpants and t-shirts, and even a jacket that wouldn’t irritate my arm but still cover it. 

That would hopefully keep everything okay and not infected. That’s the goal at least. 

Despite my misgivings about the mission in general, I had to admit that the area itself was beautiful. The swamps had oddly clear water and the water plants were plentiful and full of life. Coal Tars (though sometimes annoying, the little buggers were cute as fuck) were floating lazily above the surface of the bubbling water. There was probably a natural spring somewhere on the land if the state of the water is something to go off of. 

The old wooden bridges fit the going aesthetic and there were even the random weeping willow trees that looked to be many decades old. They were large and their limbs just brushed the water. It was lovely and dark. 

Yukio knocked on the shack’s door and a small elderly woman answered. “Oh good you’re here!” She said, smiling brightly. “I have a list of chores I’ll need all of you to do and then I’ll have some snacks and food ready for you later. Come in, come in. The equipment you’ll need is inside.” She held open the door and we all filed in, placing our bags in a pile by one of the walls. She lead us into a back room where there was a multitude of… things dumped everywhere. 

“My sons and grandchildren are usually the ones to help so I’m sorry if things don’t fit quite right. I had to get some extras too.” The lady was saying to Yukio as she began to gather up some things to show us. “Alright dearies, you’ll need to wear this stuff to keep ya safe. The boots go to your knees and that’s just so you don’t get covered in the mud. That stuff is sticky. The water is completely safe to touch, but I’ve included some gloves just in case some of you have sensitive skin. Lord knows my husband used to react rather oddly to some of the minerals.”

She handed each of us a pair of ‘one size fits all’ boots and gloves before continuing to bustle around the small room. “You’ll be wanting some goggles so that things don’t get in your eyes and you’ll also need a bucket or two.” After handing us each those things she beckoned us to look at the back wall. It was covered in shelves filled with half empty jars. I was still confused as to what exactly she wanted us to do, but I had a pretty good idea. 

“You’ll be harvesting some of the plant and animal life that live on my property. Most shouldn’t be dangerous but those gloves are strong so you should be fine. If one of you gets hurt, I have a first aid kit.” She tittered on, handing each of us a couple pages. I glanced down at mine and grimaced. 

On each page was a picture of either a plant - those did  _ not  _ look like plants but okay - or a creature? Animal? I don’t really know. They looked more like monsters or demons if you asked me, but if the lady wants them then sure. There were instructions on how to harvest and store these things as well as how many. I did not want to be touching them with my bare skin, and I was thankful for the gloves. 

The metal buckets she’d given us along with a leather belt attached to them were divided into quadrants so that we could collect from our list all at once (because no, they could not touch each other that would cause contamination despite the fact that they regularly interact below the surface of the water - the water, which must have some sort of qualities that does  _ things  _ to living tissue but whatever) and spend less time out in the sun. The buckets also had a mesh net bottom with holes small enough that nothing would fall through, but big enough that water could be drained from the plants and wildlife. 

She left Yukio with another list and then pointed out back. “That’s where you’ll want to start. Everything can be found within 25 yards of the house - you’ll want to stay close because the edges of the property do start to get rather hot during this time of year - and I’ll have some lunch ready for 1 o’clock.” Then she disappeared into another room leaving us alone with a bunch of equipment in our arms. 

I stood frozen for a second, just taking in everything that just happened (that woman was a whirlwind) before I began to move, startling everyone else out of their own stupors. I dumped my stuff on the floor before taking off my shoes and replacing them with the boots that were only one size too big. Since I was wearing sweatpants, I tied up the pant legs so that they rested just below my knees and still didn’t expose any skin. I didn’t want to take chances with the water. 

I unzipped my jacket and rolled up the sleeves to my elbow before securing them with a tie. The weather was warm, so trying to keep cool was important. Especially with how my inner fire is. I took the bucket and wrapped the belt around my waist so that the bucket rested on my hip before shoving the papers in an inside pocket. I’d already memorized the contents. 

Rolling on the gloves that came just below my elbows, I began to make my way towards the door. The others were a bit slower considering they were taking cues on how to actually put on their equipment from me. Before I got outside I slid the goggles carefully over my eyes and then opened the screen door. There was a small wooden porch with the posts it stood on beginning to rot through. 

Was that lady  _ sure  _ that the water wasn’t acidic? That kind of damage… just wasn’t from spending too long in the water. 

Carefully I stepped down into the water, flailing a bit like a startled cat when I sank down farther than expected, but it wasn’t that slippery so I was okay after the first couple of steps. I waded out a good 15 feet away by the time the others had all started crowding onto the dock. 

The water was warm, but not uncomfortably so around the rubber of my boots. It was like the water had just absorbed the warmth from the sun. A bubble rose to the surface right beside me and popped, releasing a horrendous smell and I rethought my position on the comfort of the warmth of the water. 

“I think it’s okay-“ I began to call, turning back to face the others when I was interrupted by a splash as Shima jumped right into the water. I flinched and did my best to move out of the way of the splash but inevitably got some on my gloves. I glared at him but he was too busy trying to not fall in the water because he landed right in a slippery spot of mud. 

Izumo started yelling about how much of an idiot was and my gaze was drawn to the two girls. Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei had left with the bus, citing some Vatican missions as their excuse to not join us in wading around in a bog while searching for demon like animals. Because of that it was only the two girls. They were comically small for the boots and gloves, and the goggles just looked ridiculous on everyone. 

But I was thankful for them nonetheless because the scent of the bog was already beginning to itch at my nose. I can’t imagine what it would do to my eyes. Having constantly watering eyes while foraging wouldn’t be fun. I sniffed at the air before wrinkling my nose. “Is anyone else getting an itchy nose or is it just me?” I wondered aloud. 

“Hmm, I believe it might just be you… Okumura-kun.” A soft voice said from beside me. I whirled around to see that Shiemi had made her way over beside me and was the one who had answered. I raised an eyebrow at her proximity to me - just yesterday she had still been pretty scared of me, I mean Shima was the only one who was even getting close to acting normally around me - but she just smiles softly before nodding towards the water. 

“I know a decent amount about the herbs and things we will be collecting. Do you want me to share?” She asked softly, bending down and peering into the water before reaching down and pulling up a small rooted vine plant. “This can be used to promote healing in basic scratches. The ones with the sharp prickles-“ she points at the plants that I’d started pulling up from my spot in the water, “-can be ground into a pulp to prevent infection.” I nodded in answer. That seemed pretty useful, I see why this woman owned the property. It was certainly fruitful. 

I listened as Shiemi continued to prattle on quietly about plant facts as I scoured for the required number of plants that I was supposed to collect. I would hunt for the demon like creatures after we ate. 

The others were loud and annoying as they hollered at each other and splashed in the water, but Shiemi and I remained farther away in a companionable silence only broken by her small fact sharing sessions and the cries of our classmates. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who commented and the Harry Potter Crossover is in fact a confirmed part of the series now! Yay. So if anyone wants to suggest some things that they'd like to see, feel free to drop some comments below. That also goes for OHSC because I have a loose idea of what needs to be in the story but I don't really know how I want it to go yet. I will need to work on a timeline for that one.
> 
> On a completely unrelated note I have become cringey and I'm planning on writing something for the 2017 IT revival and it's gonna involve dark!stuttering!Bill because I am trash and I want the Losers' Club to be hecka dark after they deal with their shit. It'll be great guys.


	20. The Rain Washes Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually pissed at myself for getting this done so late so I was unable to cram in the fucking end of this mission, so I'm sorry but y'all are getting another chapter before the next mission. Damn. I just wanna get to the interesting stuff but I need to get through all of this first ughhhh

Karma/Rin P.O.V

As we’d been informed, the client hollered out the door at approximately 1:15 in the afternoon. By then, we’d all gotten about half of our pages done, which should fit our time line. Yukio had insisted that we have some spare time in the evening to complete some homework. Team bonding maybe, I don’t really know, I wasn’t paying that much attention when he was speaking with the client.

I just found it really amusing that he was working in the waters alongside us. He didn’t seem to be all that bothered, although he did wrinkle his nose in disgust every time that he had to adjust his goggles with his shoulders due to his gloves. That and the slightly jealous and remorseful gazes that he was shooting me. He was jealous of the fact that Shiemi had chosen to spend her morning quietly with me instead of him, and perhaps the remorse is because of how much of a shitty brother he was being? 

I wasn’t about to hold my breath. 

As soon as we heard the call from inside the house, we gathered around the porch and climbed up. I unbuckled the belt and shook the bucket over the water slightly to drain all of the remaining water from the plants that I had grabbed. I had done those first because quite frankly I was dreading having to search for the organisms. I was just glad that I didn’t need all that many of them because I still had some of the more dangerous plants to find. 

Because I’m the type of person who does the easy shit first and leaves all the dangerous/hard/annoying stuff for last. It was great. I hope the weather will hold, even if I have the feeling that I might have burnt around my hairline. Which I shouldn’t have because a. The sweater I’m wearing has a high collar, and b. My hair should be long enough that it covers  my neck. 

But fear of burning and not looking my best - being presentable is very important, it says a lot about you to people that you don’t know - I was enjoying the sun. The heat of it as well as its kind rays gave me a sense of calm that I usually didn’t get with my tendency to stick to the dark and the underground. It is very nice to see as much of the sun as possible. 

The only time that I really got to take the time to enjoy it was with outdoor missions or classes. Every other time I was too busy to take the time to just absorb the heat of the sun. Wow, I sound like a hippie. Damn.

I carefully placed the bucket down on the deck before pulling off the boots I was wearing and putting them about a foot away from the edge so that they wouldn’t fall. Then, I removed my gloves, not bothering to turn them inside out yet and instead just being careful with them. I then laid them over the toes of my boots so that they could dry in the sun and be safe to touch once more. We were most likely wearing those gloves for a reason and I didn’t want to tempt fate. I picked up my bucket by the belt and made to make my way inside when I noticed that everyone else was going to make their way inside as is. Even Yukio.

“Um, no.” I said, shaking my head as I stood in front of the door. “We are  _ not  _ going to make a mess of the client’s house. Now shake the water out of your bucket so that it does not drip, and take off your boots and gloves. We are not going to track anything in, got it?” I ask, pushing the goggles up so that they rested more on my forehead and hairline instead of over my eyes. It pushed my bangs up which takes away from my intimidation factor, but I was able to give them all the disapproving eye nonetheless.

I placed my hands on my hips, standing there in hiked up baggy pants, my ankle socks and a sweater that was too warm for the weather rolled up past my elbows. I like to think that I can look threatening (the I-can-kill-you kind of threatening) in any outfit, but I had the distinct feeling that I just came off as disapproving mom friend. It did not help that I had assumed the mom pose and was telling them to essentially not track in mud.

There was some grumbling, but luckily enough, everyone did as asked and we made it into the back room where we then began emptying our buckets into the labelled jars that the client had kindly left out for us while we worked. After that, we made our way back through the house to a small room with a large table taking up most of the space. It followed an open floor plan and was connected to the room where we had all dumped our bags. On the table sat some food and the old woman who was happily eating herself. 

“Help yourselves,” she said, gesturing towards the bowls and chopsticks she’d left out for us. I bow my head in thanks before picking some of the food and moving towards the living area. There was some wooden chairs, a couch, and a small table in the centre of the room. I carefully pulled out one of the wooden chairs and sank into it, resting my back. I ached from bending over for so long, and I was definitely glad we had the chance to take a break. 

I ate my lunch quickly, and set the bowl aside while I reached into my pack. The others had been a bit slower with both selecting their food and place to eat, but somehow they all ended up within my eyesight. They watched curiously as I dug through my pack while they began eating slowly. They were tired, and I know from first hand experience that eating while you’re exhausted can sometimes lead to nausea. It didn’t help that it was decently hot outside and they weren’t necessarily accustomed to the wet heat like this.

Heat exhaustion would definitely be a possibility. 

I pulled out my first aid kit and placed that beside the empty bowl and chopsticks on the floor before putting the pack aside and beginning to gingerly remove my jacket. “What are you doing?” Shiemi asked curiously as she stared at me with wide curious eyes. She was sitting on the floor near me and eating slowly, her cheeks puffed out cutely with food. She looked like a little chipmunk. 

“Well, in case you guys don’t remember, I got hurt on our last disaster of a mission and Karasuma-sensei had to give me stitches. I heal faster than all of you but not that fast. I need to take out the stitches.” I finally got myself out of the jacket and I begin to carefully roll up the sleeve of my t-shirt to expose all of the bandage that I had wrapped around my upper arm. I’d wrapped some cling film around it this morning just in case so I had to discard that first.

Everyone watched me with curiosity filled eyes as I unwrapped the bandages to reveal the neatly stitched lines. I clumsily opened the kit and pulled out some tweezers and a pair of tiny scissors. I deftly snipped the stitches and used the tweezers to pull at the strings until they popped out of my skin, scrunching up my nose at the uncomfortable feeling of tugging thread through my skin. 

Shima paled as he stared at my arm. “Doesn’t that… hurt?” he asked, letting his chopsticks clink at the bottom of the clay bowl. 

“Not really, I have a high pain tolerance.” I respond absentmindedly, putting the threads onto the pile of used cling film and gauze. I examine the wound, happy with how it’s closed up. I reach into the pack and pull out an alcohol wipe. I rip open the package with my teeth (just to be extra of course) and wipe down the still pink skin. Then I clean both the tweezers and the scissors before placing all of those back into the med kit. 

I pull out a triangle shaped cloth bandage and begin to roll it into a strip. “Why is it triangle shaped?” Konekomaru asks quietly, looking up at me sheepishly from the corner of the room. He was sitting with the Kyoto Trio on the small couch and he looked like he almost regretted opening his mouth. I say almost because he was standing firm and staring at me expectantly. 

“It can be used for more than just wrapping the still delicate skin. If I break my arm, I can use it as a sling by tying it in a certain way. It’s just convenience to only have the one kind of bandage - more versatile.” I tell him as I wrap it around my arm tight enough that it wouldn’t shift. I pull the double knot with my teeth and reach back into the kit to reveal a small roll of cling film. Anticipating the questions from one of the cram class students who now seemed a lot less skittish around me, I explain why I have the cling film. “This is to wrap over the bandage to try and waterproof it. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done.”

I wrap it until it covers and smooths over the bandage before pulling my jacket back on. I replace all of my unused first aid equipment back in the kit and shove it in my bag before picking up my bowl and chopsticks. “Excuse me, ma’am? Would you mind if I used your sink to clean my dish?” I ask, turning my gaze towards the woman. 

The old woman stares at me for a moment, her hard gaze settling on my eyes with a intrigued look. Her eyes flickered from me to the bowl in my hand before looking to the rest of the class who had wisely followed my example and were clutching their own empty dishes. She looked us over for a moment longer before laughing loudly and shaking her head. 

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, kid.” she said, her voice a bit raspy as she waved towards the table. “Just stack your dishes here, I’ll take care of them along with the others while you finish your work. I will have dinner ready around 7:30 tonight. You should all be done by then. I nod, bowing respectfully to her as I placed my bowl and chopsticks neatly on the table as I pass her on my way to the back room, the others doing the same behind me. 

I stop on the deck, squinting as I looked up at the sky. There was no breeze down where we were, but the sky had darkened in the hour that we had been inside to eat. “It might rain soon. I suggest we get as much work done as possible before it does. It will be harder to find things in the water if it’s raining.” I observe, half speaking only to myself as I shove on my boots and strap on the bucket. 

Pulling on the stiff but thankfully dry gloves, I shove the goggles down over my eyes. If it rains, not getting the water in my eyes will be a great advantage. I slip into the water along with the others and begin to wade towards the willow trees. There was some weeds that liked to grow alongside their roots that I needed to collect before I could begin hunting for the creatures that lived amongst the weeds.

“Where did you learn how to do all that stuff?” I hear someone ask from behind me and I whirl around to see that it was Yukio. He was standing awkwardly in the almost knee high water, looking altogether rather small in his getup. He wasn’t quite used to harvesting plants or wearing anything but his school uniform or exorcist coat. It was actually kind of funny to see him in just a t-shirt and some jeans. “The first aid, I mean.” I raised my eyebrow as I leaned over and began rifling through the shallows.

“It’s some pretty valuable knowledge to have, little brother. Basic first aid was highly encouraged by my 3rd year teacher at Kunugikaoka. I knew enough to fend for myself before that though. I wasn’t exactly a cautious child. I got into a lot of fights - that’s why Fujimoto gave me up in the first place.” I point out, successfully finding a small group of the plant I was looking for. Its leaves and natural residue could be used to make a deadly poison, but its roots were able to be used to make the antidote. I would collect both and separate them in the bucket. 

“Oh…” Yuki said quietly, the water sloshing around him as he moved restlessly behind me. “Do you have to deal with bandaging wounds often?” he questioned. I mentally rolled my eyes. What was the meaning of these questions? Why did he even care?

I shrug, “the neighbourhood I grew up in wasn’t the best.” I settle on saying, finishing with grabbing those weeds and now placing the roots and the shoots in two separate compartments in the bucket. “It’s no big deal. Shouldn’t you know this stuff? You want to be a doctor right?” I shift the attention off myself as I turn to face him, staring at him questioningly as I nonchalantly organized my bucket. 

Yukio blushed, “Well y-yes.” He said, looking at me slightly startled. He was wearing his glasses behind the goggles, and it just served to make his eyes look larger than they really were even though his glasses weren’t that thick. 

He didn’t say anything else for the moment so I just turned and looked up at the collection of willow trees around me. It was kind of peaceful, and pretty. It would have been much prettier if the sun had been shining things would have been better. Already I missed the warmth of it on my skin. I shiver as I look up at the sky, finding that the clouds had darkened significantly. 

Ignoring whatever Yukio might have said next, I move to get out of the water, easily scaling the willow tree. I clung to the one branch as I look across the swamp property. Everyone was pretty much minding their own business while wading around the shallow waters near the house. From here I can smell the air much better, and feel the light breeze that missed us when we were close to the water. It wasn’t strong, just enough for me to smell the lightning on the air. 

Almost as soon as I came to that realization, the heavens opened up and began to cry. Warm water began to pour from the clouds above as it rained lightly, the raindrops elegantly hitting the surface of the crystal clear water over the ground in such a picturesque manner. The branch I’m precariously perched on quickly becomes too slippery and I scramble down before even my reflexes will be unable to save me and I’ll fall into the mysterious waters that hold many poisonous plants. 

I land on my feet in a crouch as I hear the other students begin to react to the rain. “Oh come on! Are you fucking kidding me?!” Izumo damn near shrieks as she flails around and glares at the sky. 

“It’s not that bad, Kamiki-chan! We aren’t even getting anything in our eyes because of the goggles. So what if we get a little wet? Have you never played in the rain before?” Shima calls loudly, splashing around, laughing all the while. He was laughing and happily doing his best to run around the swamp. Izumo rolled her eyes at him and glared as her clothes began to get weighed down with water. 

“Don't call me that!" she snaps angrily. "My clothes are getting  _ soaked  _ Shima, what is there to enjoy about this????” She complained loudly, stomping her foot slightly in anger. I laughed a bit at her response as I made my way back towards where everyone had grouped together in the center of the land. 

“Don’t worry about it too much, Izumo.” I call goodnaturedly and pat her on the shoulder. “Shima is right though, the rain is truly wonderful! I’m sure that the client will provide us with some towels to dry off with when we get back inside.” I reassure her, smiling. She scowls and sticks her nose in the air, but gets back to work anyways.

I have to admit though, that I was a bit biased with things concerning the weather. It just gave me a sense of calm as I felt the shifts in the weather. While I loved a good sunny day to bask in, my favourite type of day is a rainy one. Just hearing the rain fall on the ground shrouds the world in a quiet that is both unnatural and very natural.

The rain can be quiet and soothing as well as chaotic and terrifying. With the involvement of the booming thunder and flashes of lightning, the rain becomes exciting. You can feel the electricity on the air and smell the rain as it settles on the tip f your tongue. Rain is such a sensory experience, and since I have a really strong immune system, I am able to just sit in the rain whenever it happens. 

But the rain in the city feels different than this. It is no less exhilarating, but the taste and feel of it is different. Here, it feels calming and soothing, like it’s washing away pain. How odd. 

Izumo continues t grumble while the rest of us continue to work our way through the papers we had, laughing and joking as we all get soaked by the rain. I grin at the easy atmosphere that the weather had produced and just sort of live in the moment while the unease that surrounded the cram students eased for a moment. It didn’t disappear, but the lapse was enough for me. 

There’s a creaking coming from the house and I snap my head to the side. The old woman had opened the window on the side of the house and was watching us with an unreadable look in her hard eyes. She pulled out a clay bowl and placed it on the window sill and leaving it to slowly fill with water. She met my eyes for a moment, noticing me staring at her, but then she turned around and went back through the house, leaving the window open all the while. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> throw out some future sequel ideas my dudes. I can't promise I'll use them but I'd like to see what people would like to read


	21. Understandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fucking finally the end to this goddamned character development case. One more case and then it's the race to the finish line guys - this was over 6000 words... so I could have... made this two chapters... but I didn't

Karma/Rin P.O.V

And that’s basically how things went for the next bit. The rain kept pouring and we all kept scouring the land for whatever we had left to look for. The rain felt surprisingly clean - it was like having a shower, and I feel like I might end up just sitting on the porch outside of the overhang if I had time after dinner. I always was the most productive when it was raining. Usually it made people tired, but it energized me.

And this time it didn’t even have a biological reason (as far as I know) considering the sun was hidden behind the clouds. 

The light rain was soothing and made working a bit easier. It wasn’t cold, but it was cool enough to be refreshing. Lucky for me, the rain seemed to cause all of the small demon like creatures to the surface of the water, and it was just a matter of finding the right ones. Izumo and Yuki were both thoroughly disgusted by the wildlife, but Shiemi and Konekomaru were both surprisingly comfortable with it. They cooed at the small creatures that were created from pure nightmares. 

Some had claws and others just sort of… oozed everywhere, but all of them were long eel like creatures with various variations, and they all had the most horrific eyes. Sure the eyes varied from giant to blind to oozing to  _ looking like they were sewn shut what the fuck _ , but they were all rather gross if I’m going to be honest. 

I hope that they wouldn’t contaminate each other, but I figure that the client wouldn’t have given us these weird but efficient buckets if we weren’t supposed to use them like this. So, I just sort of lumped them together and silently prayed to whatever deity was out there that they didn’t decide to jumped out of the bucket because that would be a major pain. 

The sky darkened further as the day wore on and the rain eased up to a heavy mist. It was as peaceful as it was spooky, and I found that I quite liked it here. Despite my original misgivings at being forced to work on a farm (and with some of the scents itching at my nose something fierce) the land was quite pretty during a rain. Maybe it was just my stupid obsession with rain, but things looked even prettier in the dark as dusk approached. The eerie atmosphere and weird ass creatures - fucking glowing  _ things _ had appeared at shortly after the sun would have set - made things seem otherworldly. Like reality was distorted. 

With the inevitable darkness of the sky came the chilled air of the night away from the city. With the night and the cold came the arrival of the promised coal tars. They just floated lazily above the water and occasionally chose to rest around our heads and look curiously into the buckets. They sneezed when they got hit with more water than mist, and I found myself chuckling softly as one sneezed so hard that it flew backwards and bumped into me.

In our soaked states, we quickly became chilled to the bone. The only source of warmth was the hot air that wafted up from the water. We managed to quickly gather the rest of our materials and then we were high tailing it back onto the porch. The overhang of the roof was big enough for all of us to fit under as I frantically stripped off the rubber boots and gloves. This time we also dumped the goggles in the piles of equipment under the roof. 

I shiver slightly as I push open the door to the back and sigh audibly in relief when I see that were were towels in a neat stack waiting for us. The clothes I was wearing were all squishy and clung to me like a second skin, so I was grateful for the fact that we would have a chance to dry ff briefly before changing into another outfit. But first, we all needed to take care of the buckets upon buckets of live creatures in our care. 

Just like me, the others were eager to get rid of the nightmares into their nearly empty jars (it felt odd to dump these creatures on the dead carcasses of their species but hey, thus is the life of a supplier) and to get out of their waterlogged clothes. The task was finished quickly, and without further adieu, I began to peel off the outer layers of my outfit.

Yukio stared at me scandalized. “What are you doing?” he asked as he just sort of watched me begin to work off my sweat pants. 

“Well, I’m getting out of these wet clothes so that I don’t lose more body heat and I’m not exactly shy so I’m fine with getting off the heavier stuff here. I have boxer briefs on Yukio so it’s not like I’ll be naked. If anyone else is uncomfortable they are more than welcome to wait for their chance to use a spare room to change.” I tell him as I neatly fold the sweatpants, jacket, and shirt I had on. I leaned out the door and pressed them to get out as much moisture as possible before leaving them in the corner of the room in a pile. 

Yukio looked troubled and he just shifted uncomfortably as he dropped his towel around his shoulder. I rolled my eyes, it wasn’t like this would be the first fucking time that I striped in front of people. 

Without my shirt on, my tattooed arm and cling film covered arm were plain for everyone to see. The ink hadn’t faded from my skin despite my regenerative abilities so the contrast between the vibrant colours and my pale skin was quite striking. Of course as always, I still had my metal arm bands on so that they covered anything that I couldn’t yet explain. Ignoring the curious gazes of my peers I proceeded to towel off before wrapping myself tightly in the towel and marching towards the communal area to grab my bag and change fully. 

To preserve modesty because there was ladies present and I honestly doubt that anyone here wants to see my junk, I covered my lap with the towel while putting on new boxers. I swiftly pulled on some sweatpants and a muscle shirt before bringing a change of clothes back into the room for everyone else. I dumped my soaked boxers with the rest of my stuff. 

Unsurprisingly, everyone had only just begun wringing out their hairs and their shirts when I came back with the piles of dry warm clothes. I quietly shooed the girls into the other room to dry off before glaring pointedly at the other cram students and tossing the clothes to them. They blushed before glancing nervously at me. Oh wow, they were embarrassed to strip in front of me. 

Amazing.

Rolling my eyes, I went through the other door in the back room and came into what I would guess was the kitchen. It was surprisingly large, for the size of the rest of the shack’s rooms, and held many different kinds of equipment ranging from buckets to other dirty dishes. The old woman was holding some plates in her hand and staring at me shrewdly. She threw her head over her shoulder and pointedly stared at a stack of clean dishes and utensils. 

Taking the hint for what it was, I grabbed the stack and followed her into the room with the table. She set down the last of the dishes and I placed mine on the table before silently asking her if she needed anymore help. She just shook her head and gestured towards the common room where the others had all gathered after changing. The guys were still toweling off their hair and the girls had done the weird hair hat thing that they did.

From what I’d heard it was a good way to keep the wet hair out of the way and get most of the moisture out of the hair. That’s what Kayano told Maehara when he asked. I was willing to trust that she spoke the truth. 

“Dinner is ready. Help yourselves. Your work is done, you have my thanks. You and your little friends are welcome to stay here for the night - I sense that there is still much for you to learn from here.” She told me seriously before moving towards the window sill behind the table and grabbing the bowl of rain water. Then she made her way towards the cabinet on the other side of the table and sat in front of it, putting the full bowl in the cabinet. Seemingly out of nowhere, she produced a plate of food and began eating herself. 

I stared for a moment before turning to the other room. “Come on! Dinner is ready!” I call, grabbing the clay bowl and chopsticks from the top of the pile and beginning to pile various types of food into the bowl on top of some rice. Earlier I had grabbed the bear minimum because I work better on an empty stomach with manual labour. Now though, the work was done and I just had some school work to do. I would be writing the report for this mission and then maybe finishing up an essay that was due in a week. 

I’d hand it in early so that I could get some extra credit to make up for the fact that I was missing so many lessons. Teachers liked that and tended to overlook my absences if they thought that I was hard working and understood the material. 

Eating my fill now would be fine. With a heaping bowl, I made my way over to my pack and dragged it over to a chair by the table and sat my ass down to begin to eat over a table. I pulled out my novel and the notebook that I had brought with me. It was a purely school related notebook and held neat notes for each of my classes carefully organized into sections. I would plan out my work here and make notes on things that I would both need for the essay and touch on. 

Placing the bowl on the table, I eat with one hand while writing with the other. The book lays on my lap, and I remain in my own little literary world while my classmates get their own food and gravitate towards sitting or standing around this room instead of the larger common room. Luckily, the awkward silence didn’t last long, and soon Shima was starting up a lively conversation with Izumo and Yukio while Shiemi giggled in the background. 

The din of their voices was a low buzz that easily drowned out into white noise while I worked. Eventually switching over to typing up the report once I’d finished my food, I looked up from my work temporarily (letting Ritsu take over adjusting and adding to the report with all of the papers with herb/creature information that she’d scanned) to look up at what was happening around me. 

The others had quieted down somewhat, and were now merrily eating and finishing some of their own school work. There was something about the weather outside that just seemed to bring out the comradery in them. I almost find myself wishing that we could stay longer, but then I realize that’s an awful idea. There’s the occasional quiet conversation about the work being done, but other than that, the room has now gone quiet. It’s peaceful. 

Izumo and Shima are still arguing quietly while filling out math equations (about the methods they are using to solve the equations, I believe) but it’s more good humoured than ever before. There was a silent understanding passing between the teens. Was this what we looked like when we rallied against Takaoka? It was almost absurd to see it in such a simultaneously normal and abnormal setting and situation. 

Konekomaru and Bon were reciting lines at each other, most likely in an attempt to see who could correctly recite the most lines. Maybe there was better points the more obscure the quotes… Oh well. Yukio was quietly reading a pristine copy of the same book that had been sitting in my lap only 15 minutes ago. 

The sun had fully set behind the clouds and everything was dark outside of the house with the exception of some glowing bugs hanging just over the water. The woman was sitting in her chair, watching as the other teens interact with each other, and how I  _ wasn’t  _ interacting with them. She had pushed the now empty plates into a pile in the center of the table so that she had room to spread out her things. I don’t know when she’d gotten up, but there was numerous jars on the table (with things that I hadn’t seen before so the likelihood of them having come from the china cabinet sitting against the wall was high) and some other tools that I wasn’t familiar with. 

There was some jars of ink, tiny funnels, tweezers, wax paper, leather, and a brush. The old woman was placing 7 small crystalline bottles on the table next to a mortar and pestle. “What are you doing?” I ask softly, placing my phone face down on the table and turning my full attention to the old woman that we had been helping all day. She looked up at me briefly, and then glanced at the others. They weren’t paying any attention to our quiet exchange.

They were all sitting on the floor in a circle, leaving only myself and the woman at the table and watching from the outside. “Come on over, son.” she says, her voice sharp but not cold. She was just a naturally stern woman I guess. I move the chair I’m sitting on until I’m in front of the woman with her materials in between us. “I’m making some charms.” she explains, holding up the bottles as she places them in a neat little row in front of the larger jars. 

“The bottles are made out of some enhanced quartz. It doesn’t break and takes quite some time to form naturally, so very few people know how to mold it properly. I’ve held onto these for more than 50 years before I moved to this country and took over this land.” she told me as she unrolled the wax paper and proceeded to hold thin ripped strips to the bottle front before using a brush to brush the heavy black ink onto the paper until it stuck to the bottle. At my curious look, the old woman was encouraged to continue narrating her actions as she methodically prepared the bottles.

“This ink was made with the blood from some of those xiū leeches that you harvested. It’s a strong adhesive and dries as hard as concrete. It’s not poisonous to touch, merely has a presence of darkness. I was never able to figure out why, but I always found it comforting.” She carefully placed the brush inside the ink bottle before nudging the bottles onto the table to dry. Then she held out two different crude clay bowls and I did as silently asked and held the both of them up for her while she took a small clay spoon and the funnel. 

She held out the first bottle she’d pasted the wax paper onto (I would assume that the ink was now dry) and placed the funnel into the curved neck of the quartz bottle. It looked almost like a teardrop, and I wondered at how the funnel fit into the thin opening at the top. The roub bulbous bottom had a spherical hollow that was quite beautiful. 

“You may have noticed from when I warned you, but the water here worked differently. It might be a combination of the various herbs and creatures that live in and feed on the waters, but there’s something not quite right about it. I’ve found with my customers that including it in charms has interesting effects. It’s still best to not have it touch your skin, but the rain water is different. It’s purer - hence why I allowed you all to stay outside once it began raining. I’ve found that it has a rather odd effect when it comes in contact with the swamp water.” 

I watched fascinated as she gently spooned in water from both bowls into the small bottle and held it up so that I would be able to see. My eyes widened comically as I watched as the rain water (like she’d said, I could feel a difference between the two bowls; one was heavier - which was weird because they were both only water???) settled on top of the other water, forming small bubbles like oil resting on water. In the clear container it was easier to see that the swamp water was just slightly darker - like a shadow - and created a rather interesting image. I’m sure if I was given enough time I could pull a yin and yang or a good vs. evil analogy out of my ass, but I really don’t feel like doing that.

Amusement shone in the old woman’s eyes as she saw my wonder at the bottle in front of me. She placed it back on the table and quickly did the same with the other 6 bottles - only filling each of them halfway with the odd waters. Only now with the liquid there, I could see that there was many imperfections on the inside of what I now realize is just a hollowed out quartz. The outside was perfectly smooth, but the inside had lumps and sharp spike that became visible when in contact with the water. 

I’m sure that there was some way to scientifically explain it, but I am really fucking tired. Like, my eyebrows ache because of today. It doesn’t help that I’m holding up some heavy bowls full of water right now either. Seriously what am I doing?

She took the bowls from me and carefully shoved them in a cabinet behind her. “I’ll make some other things with it later.” she told me before gesturing for me to move towards the tall jars in the middle of the table. “Make yourself useful boy and hand me what I ask for.” Then she proceeds to list very specific amounts of each ‘herb’. Herb being put in single quotation marks because I’m not really sure that they’re only plants… some of those jars made me  _ really  _ not want to stick my hand in them. 

She mashed the herbs together with the mortar and pestle until it was a thick paste. She separated it into 7 clumps and rolled it into balls with the help of the paintbrush and the ink. “This is where things get a little gross, boy. So if you have a weak stomach you might want to look away.” her voice wasn’t quite… mocking yet, but it still held a small hint of the sentiment. Then she pulled a fucking leech out of a pocket and a knife.

First of all - what the fuck.

Flipping the leach on its back revealed that there was a long black cut down the underside of the creature and had been sewn shut with some coarse black thread. The head was very grotesque. It was just sort of a hole and then teeth. It was black and oozing and wow I had touched those earlier today. I was very glad that I had been wearing gloves, damn son. 

She just… cut off the tail and unceremoniously began to stuff the creature with the ink balls. Okay then. “What?” I asked slightly horrified as she held the mouth shut and massaged the leech corpse. Okay. This was fine. I’d seen weirder. What was she making again?

“You’ll see.” she said simply as the ink balls fell from the hole at the bottom where the tail had been and into her waiting hand. The ink balls had been shaped slightly, and they looked to have solidified due to the ink. They were such an odd shape that the only thing I can possibly compare their shape to was the little star shaped candies that Kayano had become fond of lately. Konpeito. They were even slightly transparent!

In quick succession she popped the little ink balls into the bottle and produced corks out of her pockets as well, the leech corpse mysteriously vanishing. Either she is great with the slight of hand, or I was more observant when tired. I like to think that it was the former, but it was probably just the latter. It’d been awhile since I was this tired after all.  I was broken from my thoughts when the client began talking again.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that they look like konpeito, but I assure you they are not so please do not eat them.” she smiled, “they work almost like moss balls - living but needing nothing more than the water in the charm. Help me with the candles, boy. I know you have a lighter on ya somewhere. Types like you always do.” I was still busy with trying to figure out how the weird not-konpeito was able to fit through the neck of the bottle. I shook myself and grabbed the black candle that I had seen while I was getting the plants. 

“What’s with the black candle? Hoodoo?” I asked teasingly, sitting back down in time to witness her force the corks 17/18ths of the way into the neck of the bottle. I look around the room, finding that everyone was focusing on their work and not on us. Then I took a chance - I lit my finger on fire and then used that to light the candle. “I’m sure that Yukio informed you of my… condition.” I say quietly, holding the candle up so that the quickly melting wax did not drip onto my hand.

The Satanic flames burned a bit hotter than normal flames so the wax melted a bit quicker. To the old woman’s credit, she didn’t flinch at the sight of the clearly demonic flames. “He did.” she acknowledged, waving her hand towards the quartz containers. “Drip the wax over the corks and seal the bottles while I put away the herbs.” she said, leaving no room for discussion. I did as asked while she grumbled and collected jars in her arms before shuffling out of the rooms. 

Right now, the bottles didn’t look like much, especially since there was a big black smear on the front with the raised wax paper. Why that was there, was still unexplained. Once I finished coating the opening and cork with black wax drips, I tipped them all over once to check the seal. Satisfied with my work, I waited until the old lady returned. In the meantime, I checked over the document that Ritsu had finished for me. 

Everything seemed to be up to date. Ritsu had even recorded what the lady had described while she was making the charm. I now had a file full of ingredients and other various procedures involved in this particular protection charm. It would be something to research later. 

I had just put away my phone when the client returned, sitting back down with a sigh. “And now, we remove the stencil.” she told me, picking up the knife she’d used to cut that leech and beginning to pick at the edges of the wax pasted onto the quartz surface. She carefully pried at the edges of the wax paper with the knife, handing me a small one to do the same. When I lifted up the wax paper - more like peeled it off very slowly because that ink was like fucking super glue, that shit did  _ not  _ want to come off! - I was surprised to see that the ink had seeped through the paper leaving a black smear on the quartz. The only parts that were left clear where the paper had been, was neatly printed characters that covered the entire surface of where the wax paper had been. 

There must have been something on the paper that prevented the ink from seeping through in the areas where there were lettering, so it made words in the negative space. I admit that I don’t really know what they said because I didn’t recognize the characters. They were in Chinese. Around the torn edges of where the wax paper had been a second ago, the characters got a little blurrier, and the quality of the characters sort of cleared up and became sharper the closer to the edge of the small smear that you got. 

“So what are these charms for exactly?” I ask awkwardly, suddenly very aware that the rest of the cram class were all looking very dozy and that according to the clock on the wall, it was getting pretty late. We now had 7 small bottles with a small living ink ball inside and that had ominous Chinese characters screen printed on the side, if albeit a little messily. 

“Protection.” she explained, handing me some bottles to hold while she grabbed the leather cord and began a series of knots around the bottle to secure it in place of the makeshift necklace. “Strong ones too. You see these knots? They have symbolic meaning too.” She continued to do her work quietly until all of them were done. I obediently handed her charm after charm, and eventually they all disappeared into the pocket of her apron. 

I stand up abruptly, stretching gratuitously as I did so. “We appreciate your hospitality very much, ma’am. Please let me clean the dishes.” I bowed slightly before grabbing two of the stacks of dirty dishes that were still on the table. My voice seemed to shock everyone else out of their stupor and they began to pack away their books and school assignments while mumbling agreements and thanks in the general direction of our host. 

Surprisingly it was Shima who was the most awake besides myself. “Hey Rin! Let me help with the dishes.” he said, grabbing the remaining ones. The old lady eyed him up with a calculating glance, shifting her gaze to me for only a split second before nodding in ascent and turning to walk deeper into the house. That was as good a dismissal as any. 

Yukio led the others into the common room while Shima and I began to wash the dishes by hand in the woman’s kitchen. I washed, he dried. We fell into a slightly awkward silence for a moment as we worked together, but alas it was not to last. Only about 5 minutes in (I had only just gotten enough soapy water in the sink to wash the veritable mountain of dishes) when Shima first began speaking. 

“You know, I really want to apologize for how I’ve been treating you ever since we found out who your father was.” he said quietly, breaking the heavy silence. I frown, my eyebrows scrunching together as I look up at him while scrubbing a stain off of a plate. 

“I-”

He cuts me off before I can really begin. “No, let me finish. I need to say this to you.” He took a deep breath, “we’ve all been really shitty to you, and you didn’t deserve that. Our reasons for treating you like scum were invalid and wrong. We shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have done that - I didn’t even believe all the shit Bon was spewing, but I’m just as at fault because I did nothing about it. So I know you probably won’t forgive me - and I don’t blame you for that - but I just want you to know that I really regret how i acted and I’m not going to act like that anymore.”

Once he’d said his piece, he fell silent once more and continued meticulously drying the dishes that I handed him. I didn’t really know how I was supposed to react to his confession. So I just sort of let the silence fester for a bit. Finally, I figured that I should probably say something. “Thank you.” I whisper under my breath. The only sign that he had heard me was the slight incline of his head. The silence we found ourselves in for the rest of the routine was more relaxed than before. It was like the air was clear.

It was nice.

 

* * *

 

We both carefully snuck into the other room to find that the others were still awake. Sleeping bags had been pulled out in various places around the room - Yukio and Shiemi, and the others of the Kyoto Trio naturally drifting together. Izumo had found herself a corner of the room and was curled up under the cover with ear buds stuck into her ears. She was tuning the rest of us out; facing the wall and everything. 

I share a glance with Shima before moving towards the far wall where I had left my bag earlier. The plastic wrap was still covering my upper arm and I lazily remove it and toss it with the other garbage that I had accumulated. I’d leave the bandage on for now, at least until we got back to the dorms. I decided to just sleep in what I was wearing, and I rolled out a small blanket that I had brought with me. It was thick enough to be comfortable and if I piled my jacket under my head then I had a pillow too. 

I was honestly just so exhausted that I could probably sleep anywhere and be fine. I would definitely regret it in the morning, but I was fine with that right now. I curled up in a ball on the floor, tugging half of the blanket on top f myself and promptly falling asleep with my head buried under the blanket. 

 

* * *

To the shock of absolutely no one, I woke up at ass o’clock in the morning because that is when the fucking sun decided that it needed to fucking rise. Which was fine. Everything is fucking fine okay… ughhh. 

I groan as I get up, quickly stuffing all of my personal affairs into my bag and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Everyone else from the cram class was still asleep, so being the nice person that I am, I took care to pad quietly to the washroom. Brushing my teeth and doing the rest of my morning routine, I left the room feeling slightly more awake and refreshed. I wandered into the kitchen, appreciating the sunlight that was just beginning to peak through the windows and the blinds. 

The old woman was in the kitchen humming softly as she messed with a kettle and cooked what looked to be a complete English breakfast. Odd. 

“Come help me, boy. Cooking is an important life skill.” 

I waltz on over, easily taking over the cooking. I enjoyed it and I was good at it. Helping this woman was really no bother, and seeing the internal debate in Bon’s eyes while he decided if I poisoned the food and if it would be rude to refuse it or not, would just be an added bonus. “I cook all the time. I live alone, so I learned to fend for myself early.” I offer, flipping pancakes and turning some sausages over so that they didn’t burn. The woman just hummed and continued fussing over the kettle. 

I placed the sausages, bacon, eggs, and pancakes on various plates on the table. The old woman bringing in some fresh fruit and the tea kettle. She reached into the cabinet and pulled out some small clay tea cups, carefully pouring some of the amber liquid and handing the cup to me. “Drink up. It’s good for you.” she insists. Deciding to not be difficult this morning, I drink the tea. It had a distinctly fruity flavour, and it was very soothing. I sipped more.

The smell of the food had begun to wake the others, and they slowly trailed in like zombies. Each of them collapsed into a chair and began to eat mindlessly. I could tell that most of them were unused to functioning in the morning without coffee. Shiemi actually seemed to be the only one even slightly awake. She happily accepted the offered cup of tea from the client. Due to the state of the cram class, breakfast was a silent affair. 

When it was over, everyone slowly but surely packed their bags, and soon there was little to no evidence that we had even stayed here at all. This time Yukio and Shiemi helped with the dishes while I fixed furniture. 

We were all making our way to the door when the woman stopped us on her porch. “Wait a moment. I have something I must give you as payment.” and then she produced the 7 charms from her ever present apron, handing one to each person. “They are designed to protect you from curses and other supernatural things... I used many of the herbs that are found on this land, and I’ve found that many exorcists consider this type of charm to be effective. I glance at her cautiously - I knew that there were things here that would weaken a demon, and despite knowing what went into each of these charms (and now I really appreciate the fact that the client had chosen to include me in the creation of the charms - it was a nice gesture) I was still unsure as to whether it would hurt me over time or not. 

“You do know that I’m the son of Satan, right?” I ask her, my voice going quiet as I stared down at her from under my bangs. She’s staring at me with a hard look in her eyes, but not even a smidge of disgust. There wasn’t pity either - which was interesting. Never would I guess that this would be the reason that I reveal my heritage to a client in such a public manner. Her mouth thins as her eyes flicker from me to the other teenagers standing behind me.

They were all suspiciously silent as they watched our exchange. The old woman held out the small charm tied to the leather cord out to me, almost imploring me to take it from her outstretched hand. 

“It won’t hurt you.” she told me decisively, pressing it into my palm and wrapping my fingers around the charm. “It’s meant for protection. Why should who sired you affect whether or not you have the right to feel safe. I watched you out there, and you are one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had at this farm. You have a good head on your shoulders. What makes you so awful that you feel that this is a trick? Take it, I don’t mean you any harm.” And believe it or not, I actually believed her.

I gently cradled the charm in my palm, looking in awe at it for a moment placing the necklace around my neck until it fell along with my other chain and charms. This one sat above my shirt though. It was a comforting weight, and due to the leather cord, not uncomfortable at all. “I just thought that with you being a supplier for the Vatican…” I trail off, uncertainly, shuffling awkwardly for the first time in a while. 

Adults usually didn’t react to me like this, and if they did I was prepared for it. All logic says that she shouldn’t be acting like this and yet she was. This is throwing me off my feet and I just didn’t know how I was meant to react to this.

“Okumura-san,” she began surprisingly gently as she gave me the first smile I’d ever seen on her stern face. It looked slightly out of place - like she hadn’t done so in a while - but it didn’t look insincere. “I have been alive far too long to be caught up in that racial business. You are half-demon, so what? I raise many kinds of demons on this land, and I’ve met many kind demons. While I admit you don’t seem like the nicest of people, I won’t shun you for where you come from.” And that was her spiel. She patted me on the cheek before going into her house and closing the door.

I stare for a moment, just sort of trying to accept what had happened just now. The smaller than I previously thought bottle settled on my chest with little fanfare. It was unobtrusive and probably very sturdy. This might actually be something that I consider keeping on my person. The old lady had been kind. So with the charm hanging heavily around my neck, I turn and start stalking down the wooden planks on the way to the waiting yellow bus. I need to get away from all of this. 


	22. The Lines Are Being Drawn in the Sand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE LAST CASE

Karma/Rin P.O.V

A week passed before anything interesting happened again. Classes were all the same and since I was ahead I was able to take it easy. 

Cram class was much like the early days of Class E. Drill after drill as Karasuma tried to finally pound it into our heads that we needed to be able to fight. I took great pleasure in helping teach them. The animosity that had previously been palatable in the air was now eased and lessened into something friendlier. It was tinged with guilt, but as of yet, only Izumo and Shima had apologized for their actions.

If I’m going to be honest though, I don’t really feel like I want an apology. I mean  it was nice and everything, but I would rather just move on. Leave the past in the past so that we can finish this year. Shiemi was an excellent example of that. She just quietly let me know that she was over her bigotry for the most part by deciding to talk to me. She no longer moved around me in fear. That was nice. Yukio held much guilt and he seemed reluctant to talk to me more than he had to. This made class a bit difficult, but more manageable than if he were to  Cram class was mentally exhausting and with the arrival of so many cases recently, I’ve been swamped with school work and haven’t really had the time to take a ‘leave of absence’ and remaining mysteriously vague. 

I’d had the chance to message Garry more, which was nice. I feel kind of like a neglectful boyfriend, but right now life was just sort of getting in the way. There would be plenty of time for me to spend some quality time with him later. Right now, I needed him to work with Kyoya on handling my people because I lived in a dorm and couldn’t get away at night to handle things on a daily basis like I did while at Kunugikaoka. No matter how annoying Korosensei had been, he’d never been too intrusive on our home lives, and if he was, he never brought it up. 

That was much appreciated.

I could remotely message Kyoya and Garry - read through reports and send my own - but it wasn’t the same as being able to talk to Kyoya as much as I used to. Now I actually cared about my grades because I sure as hell did not plan on staying here more than two years, so I’ll need to skip a grade or two. True Cross operated under the Junior and Senior high school formulas, which were both 3 years long. I am currently in the first year of Junior. 

According to some standardized tests - wow love them so fucking much - I was more than capable of handling Senior high school now. I mean, I was fine with the workload now. I just had less free time than I was used to. All of that free time was used writing reports and delegating different tasks to Kyoya and some of the other former Class E students, and finally, working out some stress via workouts (staying fit takes work and my body is a fucking temple thank you very much - I am the deity to which it is dedicated to so I can do whatever the fuck I want, but it needs just as much care as my mental stability) and working on art. 

Currently, I was beginning to fill a new sketchbook. This one was one of those pocket ones that I could carry around with me. I kept careful notes in it about relevant information. Profiles of all the people that mattered (starting with the Fabricated World, moving through Class E, and finally, the Cram Class) with some sketches of each person because it was a good way to make sure that my action shots looked realistic. I even had some more paintings of important events and locations. It was a trip down memory lane. 

Think of it as a visual information journal. I detailed each of my protective charms and each person with a careful hand. I like the idea of keeping careful visual notes. There was very little words written properly on any of the thick pages, but what was there was concise and important. I’d add details to my sketches and masterpieces in my spare time. I even slipped in that mini version of my mural in the front cover pocket. It wasn’t finished yet, but I don’t know if I’d end up abandoning the big version or not. 

So yes I spent a lot of my leisure time doing whatever instead of studying to pass entrance tests because I could honestly pass all of them in my sleep. I’m a genius after all. It’s about fucking time I show it. I was able to fly by at Kunugikaoka without stressing too much about my grades - up until that last showdown with the hardworking Asano. He was smart in his own right, but the problem with his level of intelligence is that he didn’t have all that much natural aptitude. He was above average yes, but he still needed to study to keep up. 

If I actually tried I’m sure I could accomplish much more, but why would I do that when I could just… not… do that. My ambition only stretched so far when I was happy with where I was in life. I had my meisters and so far Yukio hadn’t been showing any signs of struggling with dormant demonic nature issues. If all went to plan, I could graduate by next year and be out of their hair, only showing up for holidays and such. Maybe not even then. I think the distant relative thing would work best for all of us. 

BESIDE THE POINT. mOviNG oN.

So yes, school had been going great. We had an entire week to relax and rest after the mission that Yukio had chosen for us - everyone was so fucking sore on the ride back it had been  _ hilarious _ when they’d shown up for gym class while being half dead on their feet from back pain - before Shura and Fujimoto came back. Their arrival didn’t cause as much of a stir as I thought it would, and it simultaneously caused way more of a stir than I thought it was. Only Fujimoto could do this. 

The atmosphere had all been nice and relaxed - we were all gathered in the Cram class as Yukio lectured us about herbal properties and how the right mixture can completely take down a low level demon if we were smart about it - when suddenly the door opened. 

Well suddenly might have been a generous term. In reality, the door knob turned and in walked the two missing exorcists. Shura was actually wearing something not revealing for once, and Fujimoto was in his normal attire. The latter didn’t set off any warning bells, but Shura being serious certainly did. We had only gotten a  _ week  _ of respite. I could do without seeing either of the two exorcists ever again. It’s too soon. 

And of course, as per usual (god this was  _ usual _ \- I shudder to think it) they came bearing bad news. “We’re so glad to be back! We have another mission. This one has been assigned to us by the Vatican after they analyzed all of our reports so that they could assign us a mission of appropriate difficulty.” Fujimoto announced as soon as he and Shura had entered the classroom. He’d cut off Yukio without care, which I could tell irritated my younger brother greatly. The others in the class didn’t look as starstruck as they had previously either. 

Some were staring at him with indifference, while others, with mild annoyance. Yukio was one of the latter. How interesting. 

“If you’d care to share the details with the rest of us, Father.” Karasuma-sensei said stiffly, standing rigid at the back of the classroom. To punctuate the end of his sentence, I flipped my textbook shut with an audible snap. Disappointingly, only Konekomaru flinched, and that was just at the loud sound. 

Fujimoto just smiled. “But of course! We will be travelling to a bridge a couple hours away from here. Children have begun going missing when going near the water and they’ve reached out to us to sort the problem out.” Well that didn’t sound good, nor did it sound like something that we should be dealing with. I lean forwards in my seat, causing the other’s eyes to flicker towards me. They want to see what I have to say.

“And do we have any idea what kind of yokai we’re going after, or are we going in blind like with the Jikininki?” I ask, honestly curious, but no doubt coming off as slightly condescending. The other’s turned their heads to Father Fujimoto, staring at him with openly challenging looks in their eyes. 

Surprisingly, it was Bon that spoke up in support of me. “Are you going to make one of us solve the case again? If there’s any information you were given other than ‘children have been going missing near a bridge’ then we have the right to hear it, it’s our necks on the line.” he said seriously. I nodded in thanks and he bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. Well that has to be the amiable interaction that we’ve had since my heritage was revealed. 

“I’d rather know everything now so that I can plan. You know that I am faster at getting information, and if we leave tomorrow morning I can have some feelers out.” I point out, staring the priest right in the eye as I did so. His smile tightened, but he seemed much more at ease around us than he had before. He seemed to have yet to notice how the others were no longer looking at me with disgust. 

It was unsettling now that he seemed so sure of himself. Before he was feeling us all out and settling into a position of authority. Now, he knew what he thought he knew what he was dealing with, and his confidence made me a bit antsy. What was he going to do with his assumptions? 

“Well, Okumura-kun, I’d love to meet these contacts of yours. Unfortunately I do believe that we shouldn’t trust some unknown source of information. Are you  _ sure _ that these contacts are  _ really  _ looking in your best interest?” his smile was all teeth and I bristled subconsciously. This wasn’t what I was expecting. I growled under my breath at his underhanded insult at whether I was trustworthy or not. 

Izumo jumped to my defense. “I mean so far the ‘contacts’ have come through. And who says we haven’t met them? Even if we haven’t, I do believe I speak for the rest when I say that I’d rather have information from Rin’s contacts than go in blind.” Fujimoto looked around, no doubt expecting that everyone else would be reluctant to agree. But even Yukio was staring at him defiantly now. 

Karasuma-sensei spoke up, “For the record, Fujimoto-san, I know who his contacts are. They are trustworthy even if all of them aren’t necessarily Vatican sanctioned exorcists. You’ll find there are many things that the Vatican doesn’t teach anymore.” he said mysteriously. I smirked up at the priest and Shura, I was no longer the one that the class had chosen to attack. It felt… nice. 

My smirk widened as Fujimoto’s eyebrows twitched. Otherwise he didn’t react. “Be that as it may, I don’t believe that you should be contacting these people. The Vatican will no doubt be worried about you associating with… the wrong sort. Don’t forget that you need to become an exorcist for a reason, Okumura-kun.” 

“I’d prefer Okumura-san. And that all depends on what you define as the ‘wrong sort’,  _ sir. _ ” 

He nodded stiffly. “Yes. Well, unfortunately we don’t have any more information than that. We’ll have to survey the scene and ask the locals. It will be a good exercise for you.” his voice was bubbly, but I could tell that the atmosphere was beginning to get to him. 

“Alright so how long will we be go-” Shima began to say but he was quickly cut off mid sentence.

“Listen here you brats, show some respect. You should be grateful that Father Fujimoto is giving you these chances.” Shura broke in, apparently unable to contain herself any longer. “Follow his orders because he knows best.” she growled. 

I raised an eyebrow. Wow, she wanted to go there. 

Shima glared at her and  _ stood up _ . “Now that I’m actually beginning to doubt. We have been put through the ringer for this class and I  _ know _ that some of those cases should not have been thrown at some Junior high school kids. The art gallery one? There had been over 10 people killed! One of them being one of our own. That stupid diagnostic test of yours? If Rin didn’t have his healing powers, then his arm could have been irreparably damaged. If he hadn’t jumped in the way, Izumo could have died!”

Pinky was mad. 

Shura didn’t look any better. She was snarling and glaring at him. She opened her mouth to yell at Shima - who, for his part, looked like he was 150% ready to fight her right then and there - but it was Father Fujimoto who stopped her. “Thank you for voicing your opinion, Shima-kun. But I’m afraid I was just here to inform you to be here when school starts tomorrow morning.” Then he whirled around to Yukio and pulled a file out from under his arm and handed it to his ward. “I trust that you’ll do what you believe to be appropriate with the case file.” And then he marched out of the room along with Shura.

For a moment everything was silent while we all processed what just happened. The cram class had chosen  _ me  _ over Father Fujimoto. Unbelievable. Yukio just sort of stared at the file in his hand for a moment, almost stunned. He broke out of his stupor first and flicked open the file, beginning to read it silently. I turn to look over at the Kyoto Trio and Izumo. “Thanks.” I say simply. Izumo smirked and Bon gave a simple nod. 

Shima grinned over at me. “No problem man, I told you that I regret how I acted. And besides, Father Fujimoto has been nothing but a dick to you this entire time. You don’t deserve that.” he told me seriously, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet on the desk in a nonchalant manner. I nodded in thanks once more. He didn’t have to do that, and yet he did. I appreciated it all the same. 

“Language.” Yukio snapped suddenly, closing the file gently and drawing all of our attention back to him, and subsequently, the file. 

Shima grinned lazily and looked at Yukio. “Maa, maa, Okumura-sensei! I am a teenager, give me some leeway!” I thought he would continue with his happy go lucky attitude at this point, now that he’s yelled at and challenged the other paladin. But instead, he went serious, actually sitting up in his seat and looking pointedly at the case file. “Now you heard my speech and Bon’s opinions. What are you planning on doing with the file, eh, sensei?” He almost looked intimidating. 

Yukio apparently thought the same because he took a step back and glanced around the room. “While I admit that you should not be concerned about it, I do understand your points, Shima-kun. I have looked over the case file now, and I believe that the best course of action would be…” he turned to look at me before tossing over the file, “... to get others opinions on what is there.” I caught the file and immediately opened the thick file up on my desk, ignoring the fact that the others had all gotten up out of their seats to come stand around me. Even Yukio had chosen to lean against my desk as I scanned the files.

“Father Fujimoto wasn’t all that truthful. He obviously believed that I wouldn’t show you, but I’m tired of all of this mystery surrounding our cases. There’s something off about everything, and it is most likely people’s opinions on our heritage.” That’s the first time that Yukio admitted to sharing the Satanic lineage we both shared. Today has just been full of surprises, hasn’t it? “There’s a lot he didn’t tell us about this case.”

Oh boy was he correct. 

There was a shit ton of files in this envelope and most of them were missing persons files. It was eerily close to our exwire exam, and that was unsettling. People had been going missing, and it was much more than Father Fujimoto had been letting on. I kind of understood why he didn’t tell us, because now the look of apprehension on the others’ faces were much more evident. They didn’t like the numbers anymore than I did. 

There were witness reports and even some town history and folklore reports too. A lot of this might actually be incredibly useful, and Fujimoto believed that Yukio would be petty and act exactly how Fujimoto raised him. But you could see it in his eyes if you looked closer; my brother was aware of the fact that Father Fujimoto wasn’t the saint that everyone seemed to be convinced he was. 

Seeing that some of the others had begun to look incredibly uneasy at the vast number of children’s missing reports - and even more unsettling, the number of drowned bodies that had been found - I closed the folder and replaced it back into the envelope that Yukio calmly handed me. I look up at him, “I will see what I can dig up tonight. No promises though, but this case while it may look bad on the surface, seems like it might be an easy solve. Most river or bridge demons and spirits generally have a pretty basic weakness.” I assure, him, tucking the folder away in my bag. 

Yukio nodded sharply, an odd look crossing over his eyes before he stalked off back to the front of the class. “Alright, now that that disruption is over and done with, back to your seats so that we can continue with the lesson. Now, as I was saying, spirits turned demon are not that common, but when it does occur, they are nasty to deal with…”


	23. Establishing Connections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow someone else' pov???? Also, there's probably only 2 more chapters until this case is done and I'm working on that prologue that someone requested with Karma's early years

Shima P.O.V

After the revelation that this case was most likely going to be a big hazard to my life, I really didn’t want to finish listening to the lecture that Yukio was giving. So, me being me, I didn’t pay all that much attention to what he was saying. It didn’t look like anyone else was either, but Yukio just sort of droned on. It was probably a coping mechanism of his - giving lectures. No one burst his bubble by telling him to just give it a rest because no one cared.

Rin was openly reading further through the files of missing people and texting in class while Shiemi was watching Yukio and petting her summoned demon. Rin had summoned one of the dolls earlier to help him look through the files or something, but even that creature had gotten bored and was now contently making paper dolls with Izumo. Konekomaru had pulled out his foreign language assignments and had started working on those, while  _ Bon  _ was the only one who was still paying attention and diligently taking notes. The nerd.

I was busy fiddling with my pen and pretending to be half heartedly listening to the lesson. I reached up to fiddle with the necklace around my neck. I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but after that lady had given us those protective charms and then delivered a very valid speech about worthiness and heritage, I hadn't taken the damn thing off. It was unique and I’d honestly never heard of anything like it before, but with how our lives are going currently, every bit of protection helps.

And with this case…

I really don’t know how I feel about anything right now. The weird charm was calming and it made me feel safe in a world that I had just come to realize was so much bigger and scarier than I’d ever imagined. I was a kid that grew up at a temple that had been partially destroyed by the literal Satan. It was perfectly reasonable for me to be superstitious. I had employed many good luck charms over the years from omamori to other rituals. Anything to feel safe in my own home, you know?

None of them had really worked, although that car safety omamori had really paid off when getting in a car with Bon behind the wheel. 

But this one, it just felt like there was meaning to it - like… actual intent or whatever. I don’t really know how to describe it, but when the lady wished us well, I think that she actually meant it. 

A lot of things had changed on the last case. My thinking, the other’s thinking. We had just gotten back from the club and meeting Rin’s past classmates. It was like an overload of information that we didn’t know how to deal with. And then we saw that he could actually be somewhat normal (the dude removed his own stitches after like a day, no matter how you spin it that isn’t normal) - and no the time before the reveal really doesn’t apply in this situation anymore - and our entire view kind of shifted. He was just a teenager like the rest of us. He was just trying to survive, and we were hating him just because of who his father was.

How stupid was that? He had been right all along in acting the way he did. He had every right to hate us for shunning him because of who his stupid sperm donor was. He hadn’t even met the king demon and we automatically assumed that he was an awful person. We really should know by now that not all demons were the devil incarnate. 

We were fine with coal tars and summons. Even Garry who had formerly been human but was so obviously a demon was okay. Why had Rin been so different in our eyes? Yukio, while the nerd didn’t show any obvious demonic traits (the pointed teeth and ears as well as the unnatural hair and eye colour) that Rin displayed, still shared a father with him. He was even his twin brother! If things had turned out even slightly different from how they did when the two of them had been born, Yukio might have been the one with the powers. And who’s to say that he might not develop them later on?

Maybe he just hadn’t been in a situation of sufficient stress yet. Wow Shima, those are some big words right there.

I was distracted as Yukio placed the chalk he had been using to write on the board down on the little tray that was underneath the board. “Alright, that’s enough for today. Arrive at the school around when school begins - you will all be signed out, I’ll make sure of it. We’ll gather by the entrance and wait until either Shura or Father Fujimoto arrives.” And then we were dismissed. It was rather anticlimactic really. 

Rin left the class first with his head stuck in his files, and he was closely followed by Karasuma-sensei and Jelavich-sensei. Surprisingly, Izumo and Shiemi left together, their heads bent slightly together as they spoke quietly, and Konekomaru went to talk with Yukio about something. That left me and Bon to walk back to our dorms.

He slipped out of the classroom with his head in the clouds and I hurried to follow him. “Hey! Wait up!” I call as I run to catch up. That seems to draw him out of his thoughts and he slows down enough for me to walk beside him at a comfortable pace. We walked in a companionable silence for a couple moments as we passed through courtyards still filled with students. But once we’d cleared the more populated areas I turned to talk to him. “So what do you think of the next case?” I asked curiously, turning to walk backwards so that I could see his face. 

Bon would tell me if I was going to run into anything. 

 

Probably. 

...Maybe.

 

He looked up at the sky for a moment, seemingly collecting his thoughts as he figured out what he was going to say. 

“I don’t like how this case sounds. So far, Father Fujimoto hasn’t picked great cases.” He admitted finally. I had to admit that he was right. There wasn’t that good of a track record, even if it was only 1 case that was supposed to be a diagnostic. “There’s not enough information to work with, and Father Fujimoto seems to want to keep us in the dark.”

I nod in agreement. “Yeah, if Yukio hadn’t shown us the files… well we’d have no idea how high the stakes might actually be. That’s not something I want to get into again. Izumo-chan almost died if Rin hadn’t jumped in the way and killed the damn thing with his fire.” I say, folding my hands behind my head. Bon looks at me oddly for a moment.

“You spoke up against Father Fujimoto earlier. Why?” I winced.    


“Well so did you, even if it wasn’t as loud as myself. Why did  _ you _ do it?” I ask instead of answering his question.

"How can we expect him to watch my back on a mission like this when it was fucking Okumura that ended up saving us on all of those missions that went sideways.”

I nod again in agreement. “Yeah, he just seems to really not like Rin, you know? I feel like utter shit at how we treated him because he really didn't deserve it. He’s just a teenager like us, and we treated him like he was the one who killed everyone that night. It just doesn’t sit right with me anymore. I can’t do this.” I admit to him. “Father Fujimoto just so casually implies that Rin could kill us, but I’m pretty sure he could still kill us without the fire so I don’t really see the point of shunning him because he is capable of things that terrify me.”

Bon’s face is unreadable, and for a moment, I fear that he disagrees. But then he surprises me with his response. “I admit, that I may have been a little harsh. It’s just… he represents such an awful event, and I couldn’t separate that from him. He was an asshole, and still is, but I can’t blame him for acting how he did. I just forgot the fact that he didn’t even know demons were a real threat until this year. It seems like he’s known all his life just like we have. He was a concrete thing for me to blame and take my anger out on.”

Okay, that was way more than I ever expected him to admit to  _ himself,  _ let alone aloud and to another person. “What that old lady said really got to you, huh.” I say quietly. He didn’t say anything, but I knew that I had hit the nail on the head. Before I could push to say anything else, I suddenly fell backwards, my foot dropping out from beneath me as I walked into a hole. “Bon!” I yell, “why didn’t you warn me?” I ask indignantly. 

“There’s a hole.” he deadpans, and suddenly the heavy feeling in the air was gone and we both started giggling as I brushed the dirt off of my uniform. 

“Jerk.” I grumble. The rest of the walk back to our room was in a much more comfortable silence. 

 

* * *

 

The next day I flopped out of my bed way earlier than I would have liked, but that was the routine every day, so it wasn’t that big of a change from my normal routine. It was just the fact that I was lugging around a backpack full of clothes and other overnight essentials instead of one full of textbooks that threw me off a bit. 

But I actually arrived on time and everything. So what if it was mainly due to the fact that Bon dragged me out of the dorm room. As expected, we were not the first to arrive, but we weren’t the last either. That honour was left to the Okumura twins. They sidled up the street, Yukio with his crisp but slightly nervous gait and Rin with his confident predatory stride. The two just looked and acted so differently that it was hard to believe that they were related, let alone twins. 

Rin just had this unnatural look about him - elfin ears, fangs,  _ blood red hair and golden eyes  _ \- while Yukio looked like your stereotypical nerd and acted like it. Rin wasn’t afraid of anything (and god did I fear the day that we came across something that actually scared the younger teen), and walked with a confidence that told all of us that we should be afraid of him. Yukio was just like a TA in temperament and how much respect his appearance garnered. I wonder what Father Fujimoto saw when he looked at the children that he was responsible for separating.    


They weren’t talking to each other as they approached, and Rin simply began to pull out both the files and a notebook as he opened his mouth in preparation to explain. He looked frustrated as fuck, and I just knew that what he had to tell us wasn’t going to be something that we wanted to hear. Great, as if I already wasn’t feeling fucking awful about this mission.

“I wasn’t able to get all that much on this case. There’s too many different yokai that can be responsible for the deaths of the people that have gone missing. There are a lot of them that even prefer drowning and hanging out under bridges. There just wasn’t  _ enough  _ information despite the size of the file. Not the right type of information anyways.” Rin growled, frustration evident in his frightening gold eyes as he shoved the file at Yukio. 

“I’ve narrowed it down to like, three, but that’s a little too much for my liking. My contacts weren’t much help in this situation.” he admitted, waving around a black notebook which had mini versions of the files that we had been given. It looks like he had written out all of the information he had deemed important and had even clipped copies of the photographs to each page of the notebook. The other page had some possible yokai. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think that we’re just going to have to go and see it up close before I can narrow it down and figure out how to deal with this.”

Yukio looked troubled, but he nodded. “I unfortunately have to agree. I hate going into something like this without any plan of action, but there’s not much that we can do at the moment. We need to wait for Father Fujimoto, Shura, Karasuma-san, and Jelavich-san to arrive so that we can get going and hopefully solve this quickly.” he told us, tucking the files under his arm and craning his head around to look for the adults that would be accompanying us. 

Rin looked down before closing the notebook with an audible snap and tucking it into a pocket on the side of his duffle bag. He had his katana slung over his shoulder in clear sight, but he was dressed in his uniform. We all were, because this was a case that Father Fujimoto had given us - gotta look professional and all that. “Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei will not be joining us. Karasuma-sensei has some work he needs to do while Bitch-sensei has a mark.” he told us, his voice lowering on the second half of his sentence. I shiver slightly as I took in what he meant by ‘mark’. 

She had told us what her actual job was when she’d first come to teach us, but until now, it had fled my mind. She was a professional assassin, and while I didn’t condone murder, I had a healthy respect for her. I just hope that I never do anything to draw anyone’s attention close enough for them to hire someone like her to take me out. While it wouldn’t be the worst way to go, it wouldn’t be how I want to either.

“Bummer. Now we’re stuck with just Shura and Father Fujimoto as the adult ‘voice of reason’.” I said mockingly. “This is gonna suck! I bet you he hates me now.” I pouted childishly and Izumo smacked me over the head. 

“Well of course he doesn’t like you,” she rolled her eyes. “In case you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t like me either. It’s because we’re supporting Rin. He seems to think that he’s a loose cannon and that we should ‘watch out’ or whatever.” 

Konekomaru snorted. “Says the guy that was 100% okay with having an assassin teach us as well as  _ Shura _ . Honestly, we’re supposed to be exorcists. That makes us dangerous too!” he pointed out. I smiled at the fact that he was openly speaking up in support of Rin. It was no apology, but it was a step forward. I felt like shit for how we treated Rin, and the fact that  _ Konekomaru _ was someone to speak up in agreement just warmed my heart.

Ew mushy thoughts.

“Dangerous? As if, Koneko! You look like a breeze could blow you over.” Bon sneered, slapping the kid on the back as he stuck his nose in the air. “Now me on the other hand,  _ I  _ can be dangerous.” he said smugly. 

Rin looked up at Bon with a critical eye before placing a hand on his chin. “Nah, you just look like some overgrown gangster.” Bon face faulted and I nearly collapsed with the roar of laughter I let out. He just roasted Bon. Amazing. He’s got balls, you gotta give him that.

“Get  _ wrecked. _ ” I snickered. Bon simply rolled his eyes but there was a soft twitch at the corner of his mouth. He found this funny too. 

“Wouldn’t looking like a gangster be a good way to look threatening?” Shiemi asked shyly, causing Rin to snicker and glance over at his brother. 

He bumped shoulders with his twin before answering the small kimono wearing girl. “Not really. I mean you’ve all seen Shiratori Reiji, right? That’s a gangster and he looks like an idiot.”

Thinking back, I have to agree that the guy doesn’t work the unhinged look. He just sort of looks like a sad crackhead most of the time, although you can tell that he tries to clean up his act for class. He meets the bare minimum of clean appearance for a private school. Asshole. We all look at each other for a moment of silence before everyone burst out into laughter. Not even the slightly hysterical laughter. No, this was legitimate laughter at the mere thought of Shiratori Reiji. It’s nice to see that we’re all bonding. Even if we’re laughing at someone else’s expense.

 

And of course, that is how Father Fujimoto and Shura find us, all gathered in a loose circle and laughing our heads of. He looked distinctly uncomfortable as he waited for all of us to notice that he was there. I noticed, and it looked like Rin noticed too if the way his eyes flickered around meant anything. But he didn’t move to let anyone know, so I didn’t bother to halt my own giggles. I did stiffen slightly, but no one else seemed to notice that.

Eventually, Yukio noticed the two adults standing just outside of the circle in two very different states of impatience and awkwardly stopped laughing. He cleared his throat, prompting the rest of us to stop as well. We turned to stare silently at the two of them for a moment, and then they perpetuated the awkwardness by not saying anything. But were  _ we _ supposed to say anything??? What would we even say? I’m so confused. 

“Yukio, did you read through the files I gave you?” Father Fujimoto said finally. 

Yukio nodded slightly and turned to look at us a bit nervously. “Yes, we all did. I have to say though, that’s a lot of missing people, Father. Are you sure this is a case that we should be handling? I got a weird feeling about this.” Father Fujimoto had a pinched look on his face but he pushed past it so that he could continue this stilted conversation with his foster son. 

(Also… can I just mention how fucking messed up it is that he abandoned Rin when Rin was 6 just because he was somewhat a problem child? While he might have emerged stronger because he was raised elsewhere, it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t necessarily better off even if Rin himself would disagree. How can we respect this man for giving up on a  _ child _ . It just.. Made me uneasy, you know?)

“I had hoped that you would have kept this from your peers. It’s not a good idea to worry too much about those matters. We are here to get this job done, and that is what we’ll do. The bus is a couple blocks away. Tell me what you thought of the files.” And then he turned around and began to walk away along with a surprisingly silent Shura. 

Automatically, we all began to follow. Yukio and Rin taking point and walking beside each other. The tension in their frames was still there, but now that Yukio was openly toeing the line between blindly following Father Fujimoto and beginning to see things from Rin’s point of view, Rin was less hostile with his brother. “Well, the thing is… I uh… I didn’t really know what to make of all of the files and witness accounts. There wasn't much to work with. As much as I hate to admit it, we’re going to have to do a lot of research once we actually get there. Conduct some interviews, the works.”

“There really wasn’t enough for me to get a definitive lock on what the demon we are looking for could be. My contacts had come across this situation in too many different ways before.” Rin cut in, not getting a reaction from the priest. He seemed a little miffed by this. “Despite that, I had a feeling that what we’re going up against is a Kappa.” Now  _ that _ caught their attention. 

Shura turned around to stare at him oddly just before she climbed into the open bus door. “A Kappa? Brat, you’re aware that those are just myths right?” she asked skeptically. Rin raised an eyebrow. 

“So was Satan.”

He had a point. To someone who I was like 90% sure had previously been an atheist, finding out that Satan was real and his sperm donor would be quite the shock. Being willing to believe that anything could be a possibility is a logical response. It doesn’t really help that as a child he literally got spirited away into a hellish art gallery. 

Shura didn’t have anything to say in response to that, so she just got in the bus and went to the very back. We all filed in, assuming the same seats we always had. I doubt that there would be any good conversations to be had, so I decided to doze off instead of sitting in an awkward silence. 


	24. Situation Analysis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so I wrote the prequel thing, but the problem with it is that it is written in third person because that is how I write most of my shit (in fact this is the only series I write in first person...) so I just want to know if people would be okay if that is the one exception to the point of view or if I should rework it? I personally think that third person fits it better but like... if I get enough responses telling me otherwise then I'll rework it.

Shima P.O.V

I was jolted awake by the abrupt halt of the bus. Father Fujimoto was obviously a rough driver. I mean, he was nowhere near Bon’s level - man that was a wild summer - but he wasn’t Karasuma-sensei either. (But that would be awful if he was like Karasuma-sensei. It would mean that he was making an effort to be an oblivious dick.) I sat up abruptly as he pulled into a parking place and I ended up smacking my head on the bus window due to not having my bearings on you know… gravity or whatever. 

I sat up, looking around at the others who also appeared to have been dozing off during the bus ride. I groaned and rubbed my eyes at the sudden brightness of the world and I blinked a couple times to get used to the fact that I was awake. Everyone else looked to be doing the same as me, although none of them were so ungraceful as to bang their head on the glass. I was just special like that. 

Rin stood up and then proceeded to  _ bend backwards and crack his back 17 times.  _ First of all, why. Second of all, WHY. “Rise an shine everybody! We’re here!” he called cheerfully, flashing his fangs when he smiled brightly, his eyes glowing as if he hadn’t just been sleeping and had been awake the entire bus ride. I glare half heartedly at him because his level of awareness after a sleep was not appreciated. 

He grabs his back and then proceeds to head towards the front of the bus, the others following behind him sluggishly. Groaning loudly in protest, I wrench myself from the bus seat and hobble to the front of the bus. With how bright it was, I was expecting sunlight. But that wasn’t what I got when I left the bus. In fact, it was the opposite. There were light grey clouds covering the sky as far as the eye can see and it felt like we had just entered a dreary sleepy town in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Knowing Father Fujimoto, we probably had. 

I was squinted at the sky, hoping that it wasn’t going to rain on us. “We will be staying at the local inn for the next couple of days. Let’s go get settled in to our rooms before planning what we’ll do next. Meet in the lobby as soon as you put your bags away.” Father Fujimoto said brightly, breaking me out of my thoughts. Shura just exited the large wooden building (that actually looked like your stereotypical cabin-in-the-woods/ski-lodge inn) and walked over to our small group with 3 folders in her hands. 

“Alright, listen up brats. You will be staying three to a room; the girls are with me, Bon and Konekomaru are with Yukio, and then demon brat and pinky are with Father Fujimoto. Each folder has three door cards so do not lose them. There will be people milling around so if you get lost or have any questions, I expect that you will stay with your assigned instructors. And if you little shits break anything y’u’re gonna have to pay f’ur it. Got it?” she snapped at us, handing the two other folders to Yukio and Father Fujimoto. 

Internally I groaned very loudly at the fact that both Rin and I were going to be stuck with the most annoying instructor. Yukio was an overprotective do-gooder and was annoying on principle, but tolerable nonetheless. Shura was a nosy pain in the ass and not even I want to deal with that much boob from a teacher. That leaves fucking Father Fujimoto, who openly dislikes me now that I’ve allied myself with Rin. 

So this is all a ploy to keep an eye on the both of us? He was so cocky that he believes that he is strong enough to handle the both of us? I’m like 90% sure that Rin could take him without my help. Adding me into the equation is just overkill. And he’s only done this now because he couldn’t exactly request to room with Izumo on cases without sounding like a fucking creep for staying in the same room as a high school girl. He had Shura to keep an eye on her anyways. 

Father Fujimoto smiled brightly at us before moving forwards into the building. Since he didn’t give us our cards or the room number, we were forced to follow him or risk not having a room to stay in. It seems for the duration of this mission, we’ll be stuck with the priest. When we got to our room (third floor, room number 376) we quickly dumped our bags onto the counter before looking around. But because I’m paranoid now, I kept one eye on Father Fujimoto’s figure at all times. It’s not like I had anything to hide, but I would not put it past him to totally go through our stuff without a care in the world. 

There were two single beds and a couch by the door. Automatically Rin went over to the couch and sat down, raising an eyebrow at me. I claimed the bed that was closest to the door, leaving the priest with the one adjacent to the window. Father Fujimoto dropped the folder on his bed as he gently placed his own bag onto the covers. 

“Let’s get going!” he said brightly before moving towards the door, but then Rin stopped him. 

“If we could get our door keys. In the even that we get separated, I would appreciate having a way to get back into the room.” That comment stopped the priest cold and he turned around to face us.

“Oh right,” he said sheepishly, “of course.” He handed us two cards and we tucked them into the inside pockets of our blazers. Rin quickly zipped the katana into his duffle bag and went to go towards the door. 

Father Fujimoto looked at the bag in concern. “Ah, Okumura-kun. I do not believe that it would be a good idea to leave the katana here. If you lose it, then you lose control over your powers - you should keep it with you always.” Rin rolled his eyes at him. 

“I’m sure no one is going to go rifling through a nondescript duffle bag, and the door is locked. Besides, you seem to forget quickly how I do have complete control over my powers. Besides-” and here a doll appears on his shoulder and he raises his hand with a  _ fucking throwing knife why _ clutched in between two of his fingers. “-I’m never unarmed.” And then the cocky fuck just walked out of the room. Deciding to be a good person and make sure the paladin wasn’t going to spring some shit if left alone in the room, I made sure that I was the last person to leave and I checked the locks. 

The three of us made our way down the hallways and down three flights of stair - which didn’t even make me go out of breath anymore by the way, those training regimes have actually worked out yooooooo - until we could wait in the lobby for the others. At least, that’s what I thought would happen, but it turns out that we were the slowest in getting back to the lobby. Fan-freaking-tastic. This day was just going great. 

Yukio looked up when we arrived, a relieved expression on his face. I could see why. If what I was guessing was right, then Izumo and Shura had just been in the middle of making their way towards an explosive argument and it was only stopped by our arrival. “Now that we’re all here we should decide what to do. There were only 3 witness reports, so a good idea might be to go and re-interview them. We will most likely be asking different questions than the local sheriff’s department.” he told us, looking at Shura and Father Fujimoto with a slight look of unease.

He knew that the both of them outranked him and he didn’t want to overstep. Father Fujimoto smiled brightly and simply nodded in agreement. “Ah yes, a brilliant idea. I believe that we can simply remain in our current groupings. Yukio, your group will take the Takehashi family, and Shura, yours can take Mitsukushis. We’ll handle the Kagamine family.” Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Rin wince. I wonder why. Was there something wrong with the Kagamine family? I was still a bit confused as to why we were questioning entire families, but it was better than going to investigate the bridge right away. 

 

* * *

 

Leaving the hotel, it was easy to see that yes, this was some hick town in the middle of nowhere. There was rolling hills and a stream was winding its way around roads and buildings. It almost looked like the town was composed of variously sized islands connected by stone bridges, small roads and victorian street lamps. It looked like a town from the past, all old almost victorian level architecture (why it would be here, I don’t really know, but it made this place all the more unsettling).

Since we were heading towards the Kagamine household, and this was such a small town, Father Fujimoto insisted that we walk there. I was a lot fitter than when I first started attending True Cross, but that didn’t mean that I like walking either. It just wasn’t enjoyable. Especially since whenever we crossed a small bridge or piece of land serving as connective tissue it felt like we were being watched. I swear I even saw a pair of eyes from under another bridge which was not a good thing. If that was anything other than a paranoia induced hallucination, then that was not good for us. That meant that it could move around town and nowhere is safe anymore.

I tried to put it out of my mind as we finally arrived at a small house. It was a nice well put together place. The entire town was. If it wasn’t for the atmosphere, I would never guess that a place like this had a yokai problem.  

Father Fujimoto leaned forwards and then knocked on the door, plastering on his ‘friendly priest’ face in preparation for attempting to sweet talk the people who lived in the house. We didn’t have to wait long for the door to open. Whoever got the door chose to open in only enough for us to see their face as they poked their head out the door. It was a small Japanese woman with hair dyed a bright blonde with her natural roots beginning to show. She had plain small features and a fearful look in her box brown eyes. 

“What do you want?” she asked softly, looking up at us with trepidation. Rin wasn’t even paying attention at this point. Instead, he was having a stare down with something on the bank of the river. I made a point to not look at what he was looking at. I had a feeling that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to focus on the interview that was going to happen. 

Father Fujimoto beamed at the woman. “Good day! My name is Fujimoto Shiro and I am a priest with the Vatican. The mayor of this town called me and my students in to deal with a problem that has arised here? We weren’t given all that much information and we were wondering if you would be amicable to us asking you a couple questions. I assure you they will be slightly different from what the sheriff’s office enquired.” Welp that was one way to say things. I smiled awkwardly at the woman as her eyes flickered over to me and Rin. 

“Of course. We would all like to see that beast out of our town.” And then she opened the door wider and ushered us in, looking worriedly at Rin. She ushered us over to what I would assume to be a living room and then her husband (I would assume) took over and motioned for the three of us to sit down on the couch across from the loveseat and a singular recliner. The woman disappeared for a moment before returning with a tray full of teacups and a teapot. “Would anyone like some tea?” she asked softly before taking a seat and looking at us nervously. 

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Father Fujimoto smiled simply as the woman poured him some tea in a small ceramic cup. “Now was it the two of you who saw the yokai that we are hunting?” he asked gently, prompting the woman to look over at the hallway in the too silent house. Like seriously, there was no background noise going and the whole whispered conversations made it feel worse. 

Looking over at the dimly lit hallway, I felt a sense of foreboding. You know the feeling where you want to crawl out of your skin at that one actually creepy scene in a horror movie? Yeah, it’s that. “We saw it yes, but we weren’t the victims.” The man said slowly. “Makoto!” he called, his voice echoing in the silence. And slowly but surely, a figure came walking out from the hallway. It was a teenager, maybe a year or two older than us, and he looked awful.

There were large bags under his eyes and he was wearing incredibly rumpled and oversized clothes. His cheekbones were sunken in slightly and his shoulders were hunched over, making his tall frame seem smaller. If I had to guess from the state of his hair, he hadn’t showered in weeks. And if I was right about my suspicion of him being a victim that had gotten lucky and gotten away, then I don’t blame him at all for avoiding the water. I mean, I don’t appreciate the smell (damn Rin must be disgusted because he had those heightened senses right?), but I get it. 

I still haven’t set foot in an art gallery despite some other classmates inviting me out. I suddenly have so much more respect for Rin for having gone in there a second time after what he went through when he was nine. 

“Yeah, that would be me.” The teens voice was raspy, as if he hadn’t spoken in forever. He moved slowly over and collapsed into the recliner. “What do you want to know?” he rasped. Rin was looking out the window again, his eyes flickering between the sky and the sliver of water that was visible through the window. He narrowed his eyes, but didn’t bother looking away. He wasn’t going to break the staring contest that he was having with… something.

I didn’t want to think about the likelihood that the thing that we were supposed to be hunting was there and watching us. Like, on some fundamental level, I understood that it was a supernatural being and was probably observing us, but when  _ Rin’s  _ body language was telling me that it was  _ openly  _ observing, I felt very uncomfortable.

Father Fujimoto either didn’t sense our unease (unlikely) or he just didn’t care to say anything about it because he just sort of plowed on ahead with the interview. “Well let’s start simple. I would like you to recount exactly what happened the day of your encounter. Every little detail could be important, and I assure you, that we do indeed have all day. I will interrupt if I have questions.” Typical authority figure. Instead of treating the traumatized teen with some courtesy, they made demands and expected the person to be able to deliver and be perfectly okay with what they detailed would occur.

The other teen made a face at the blatant order, but he began to speak nonetheless. “What happened that day was complicated. I still haven’t begun to puzzle it out myself and it’s been weeks since… my encounter.” The teen took a deep breath, fisiting his hands into the hems of his shirt as he pointedly avoided looking any of us in the eye. I watched the teen carefully - if there was one thing I had learned from observing how Rin reacted to things, it was that one could learn an awful lot about the target just by watching how they moved.

“I had been hearing rumours about some beast attacking people for a while. My classmates all thought that it was just some urban legend, and we treated it like a joke. I realize that that was foolish now, but looking back, I couldn’t have really done anything different. People have been going missing in this town for a while now. I think the first disappearance dates back to just over a year ago. Since then, children have been going missing and then found dead at the edges of the rivers.”

“It had been only small children for the first 6 months due t the abundance of them that played by the water. Now, no children dare step foot near a source of water without extreme fear. If it’s raining, everyone stays shut up in their homes. At first, the police thought that whoever - whatever it was only hunted children. But then they got cocky and the police started drowning too. No one was safe anymore. The Mayor was frightened, and set out some rules; a town curfew, don’t go near the river under any circumstances, and so on. None of it did any good, and with the increasing body count and unexplainable circumstances, people started to speculate that whatever was hunting us wasn’t human.”

He shifted uncomfortably, folding in on himself slightly as he got deeper into the explanation. “My friends and I… we were idiots. We thought that… well I don’t know what we thought anymore. It was almost surreal you know? Like something out of a King Stephen novel. And because we were such idiots, we went down to the river.” he sounded frustrated, like he couldn’t believe that he’d done what he was explaining to us. “When we got there, there was a moment when I believed that the rumours of something supernatural being there. Everything looked normal, if not a little sad. That’s when  _ it  _ crawled out of the stream and stared at us for a long while.”

“It was hideous.” he admitted, “a creature straight out of a nightmare. It came up to my waist and looked like a humanoid fish - smelled like one too. It had arms and legs with webbed fingers and toes. It’s teeth took up half of its head, and on the top of its head was a small pool of water. It’s eyes were the worst though. They held a troublemakers malice and were slits of yellow that can only be compared to chlorine gas. It was poisonous and ruthless. I never want to have to look at those eyes again.”

Father Fujimoto leaned forwards, his features twisted in what must have been a look of sympathy. “And after it came to the surface? What did you do?” he prompted gently. The teen shook, looking at his silent parents out of the corner of his eye. 

“Well, we all froze. We never made a plan on what we’d do if the thing actually appeared, so we just… froze. I was paralyzed with fear. And then the thing launched itself at me, and I wasn’t fast enough with getting out of the way. It grabbed me in a choke hold and then dunked me in the water. I heard my friends screaming. That’s what broke me out of my trance long enough to try and fight back. I have a feeling that the adrenaline helped a lot, but I also have training with martial arts, and I was able to stun in long enough to get out of the river and begin running away. My friends helped me along as best as they could, but I think that they were just as shaken as I was when we went to the mayor.”

Father Fujimoto nodded and folded his hands in front of him. He was thinking about what to say, but I beat him to the punch. “So after you went to the Mayor right? And then he contacted us.” I confirm. He nods simply. “I’m sure that you’ve done your own looking into what happened. What have you found?” I ask curiously. I mean it was logical for him to. I know that I went home and did a bunch of research of Guertena as soon as we escaped. I know that it sounds far fetched, but I was honestly terrified. I didn’t do more than your cursory Wikipedia search and browsing some articles about the original release, but I looked all the same. 

I had no doubt that Makoto at least googled what type of creature it was. 

“I…” he hesitate, glancing again at the stiff figures of his parents. I had a feeling that they weren’t as supportive as they could be. And that was being nice. “Yeah, I did.” he confessed. “I’m not like you guys though… I couldn’t find much with only Wikipedia. But from what I saw… the Kappa seems to be the most likely culprit. I don’t know if I’m right… but you won’t see me going near that river ever again.”

“Do you know if any of your other friends would be amiable to an interview?” Father Fujimoto asked. Makoto shook his head solemnly. 

“I’m sorry, but they even refused to speak to the police about it. They still don’t acknowledge that it happened. They claim that I just fell in the river, but I know what I saw.” he informed us, and the disappointment on the priest’s face was evident. 

And with that, the interview was finished. The teen had apparently been as thorough as the priest had wanted and he asked no more questions. Instead, he thanked the Kagamines for their hospitality and we bid our farewells.

Rin never looked away from the window. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please do leave your opinion on the prequel in the comments below. I'm hesitant to type it until I get some opinions. Personally I'm leaning towards the third person but idk if it would mess up the flow of the series at this point


	25. Demonic Deals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lots of words - also the o key on my laptop is lowkey broken so there might be some missing o's

Shima P.O.V

After leaving the Kagamine household, we sort of just loitered on the street in front of the house for a bit. Rin was still having his staring contest with the water, and Father Fujimoto seemed to be deep in thought. In all honesty, the whole asking Makoto what he thought the yokai was was very spontaneous and I don’t know why I asked. But… his opinion on the matter confirmed Rin’s research. Well as much as it can be confirmed without  _ actually  _ checking the bridge where all the activity was happening - well the strongest.

“So… Kappas.” I said awkwardly after a moment, causing Rin’s head to turn towards me, even if his eyes never moved. Talk about creepy. “What are they and how can we kill it?” I ask, placing my hands on my hips. I feel eyes on me, and I know that it’s not Father Fujimoto (who was pointedly pointing at Rin with an indecipherable scowl on his face) and it was definitely coming from behind me. Then, Rin’s eyes slid slowly over to look directly at me, and I simultaneously realized that the only thing behind me was the river.

Shit.

Whatever it was, it had broken the staring contest with the literal son of Satan, _ just to stare at my back _ . There was no fucking way that I was turning around. I was going to pointedly ignore it and remain in an uneasy denial. This is fine. 

“Killing it… I haven’t found a confirmed way to kill the yokai. They’re old… older than proper history and no human has been successful.” Rin said carefully, looking at me with slight trepidation in his eyes. “A kappa is an old demon, native to Japan. They haunt water areas and are infamous for their mischievous pranks, drowning children, and raping women. I found some ways that people have claimed work on subduing a kappa so they are no longer a danger to humans, but I don’t know… it’s risky and I don’t think any of you will be able to pull it off. Kappas like to wrestle with people, and they are yokai, so they supposedly have super strength. You still can’t win spars with Karasuma-sensei, and he’s both human and younger than 30. Not good odds if you ask me.”

I swallow reflexively. I don’t like the sound of wrestling it. Especially considering it’s infamous for fucking raping women? First of all what. Second of all, I really don’t want to think about the fact that these things apparently live in the water all over Japan. We literally had a mission in a  _ swamp _ less than a week ago. 

Father Fujimoto’s frown deepens at the sound of Rin’s voice and he whirled his gaze around for a moment, completely wiping any sign of displeasure from his face and instead painting on excitement. “Well there’s no way of knowing that it is actually this… karpa until we see for ourselves. Let’s check out that bridge!” he said cheerfully, already beginning to walk down the street in the direction of what I would presume to be the bridge. 

I was not about that… no sir. But if we didn’t want to get in trouble or left behind. They’d find a way to blame the old coot’s death on us if the kappa got the better of him. “It’s a kappa, and for the record, this is an awful idea. And that’s coming from me…” Rin grumbled as he walked with long ass strides to catch up. I hesitated for another second, feeling the gaze slip from my back, before I jogged to catch up with the two. 

This was not going to end well. I’m calling it now. 

Let’s start off with the fact that the bridge was fucking ugly. There’s no nice way to say it. It was just ugly. It was only a 10 minute walk from the Kagamine house, which I might have found odd, but everything in this town was close together. It was a small town in the middle of fucking nowhere. Ughh, I hate this town. 

The bridge, as I said earlier, was fucking ugly. It was just a cement thing, and you could tell that the architect tried to make it look nice. From the right angle you might be able to think that it might be photogenic. You’d be wrong, but you might be able to think that. There was a mishmash of like… arches and shit on the sides, but they were not in any way uniform, and as such they just looked wrong. It was like the builders had taken one look at the blueprints and then noped their way out of properly building this bridge. It was half-assed at best.

Other than that, it was the just structurally unsound. There was so many ‘do not enter’ signs (I am not ashamed to admit that my first thought - after noticing how fugly it was - was that it was violently closed) that there was absolutely no physical way to cross onto the bridge. The damn thing looked half rotted through anyways, so I don’t know what kind of fucking delinquent wanted to climb on that shit anyways. Like bro. Don’t do it.

The orange of the signs clashed horribly with the cream (and moldy black - seriously ew) of the bridge, and I think that there was even some moss like stuff trying to grow up the side. I don’t know how it was alive. There was literally no sun???

The water didn’t look all that terrifying anyways… that's a lie. But it did look calm which was interesting. The river water trickled softly across the rocks that were lumped unceremoniously at the bottom of the river. From the angle that we were at, we couldn’t see under the bridge, but that wasn’t really bothering me right now. I was ready to just leave. We don’t need to go down there. No sir. I was not about to down there.   
  


And… there Father Fujimoto went… climbing down the side of the river like he wasn’t an old man that shouldn’t be doing that? Rin wasn’t far behind him, and if I didn’t want to be left behind in the middle of the mysteriously empty street, then I had to follow. Besides, I wasn’t going to trust that Rin would save the old man from drowning if it came down to it. I didn’t want to be blamed for murder! I just know that Shura would try to pin this on me. Have I mentioned that I don’t want to be blamed for murder yet? Yes? Oh well. 

 

I nearly slid down the hill and fell on my ass, only narrowly escaping plummeting into the river because Rin caught me just in time. I was sure that he would drop me - I really need to lose some weight, jeez - but looks like demonic strength was a trait that he inherited. He was able to support my entire body weight with the one arm as I leaned over the water. The water was clear. Almost too clear. 

Have you ever read about that one body of water with the water being so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom and it looks like it’s only a few feet deep tops but in reality it is like thousands of feet deep? Well I have, and it happened at like 3 AM while I was writing an essay on suffragettes in America in the 1920s. Don’t ask why. You should know how wiki streams work by now. Off topic. The point is, this little river - which by all rights should  _ not  _ be deep at all - felt a lot like how I imagined that that would feel. 

It didn’t look deep, and if it wasn’t deep that would make perfect sense. However, demons. Demons make everything a little screwy, let’s be honest here. The way that the rocks looked… it wasn’t right. I was a city by through and through, but I’d seen enough rivers in my time. None of them looked like this one. It felt like the longer I stared at the water, the deeper it got. 

“Don’t touch the water, baka.” Rin growled, yanking me up and back onto stable ground. “We don’t know what’s here yet. Either way, it’s responsible for multiple deaths.” he cautioned, not yet letting go of my arm as he looked to where Father Fujimoto was wandering around. The priest was walking towards the underside of the bridge. 

Despite the fact that it was still the middle of the day (never mind… it had to have been dwindling into evening by now) the underside of the bridge had fallen into thick shadow. He was poking around at rocks with a stick, and honestly I have no idea what he was looking for. What could he possibly be looking for, the dead bodies? That’s not something we want to go around finding. Let’s think about this, the mayor may have called the  _ demon hunters _ in, but I’d bet my left leg that there was some people who still believed that it was a serial killer. 

If we found a body, then there was going to be a backlash. Especially since it wasn’t like Shura or Father Fujimoto was subtle about their distrust with Rin. I think everyone in town that we’ve talked to (which wasn’t much admittedly) knew. And in a town like this, word got around. Some idiot is going to try and blame everything on us despite this shit starting over a year ago. I just know it. 

I was so focused on my own thoughts, that I almost didn’t notice movement in the water. Almost. 

There was a head slowly but surely rising out from the water. It was as grotesque as Makoto had described it. Maybe even worse now that I think about it. He was very vague after all. It’s head was a sickly blue, like someone who was dead or hypothermic. It was covered in scales and had a concave spot on its head that was filled with water. The concave spot looked like someone had bashed its skull in with a baseball bat due to how deformed and uneven it was. I suspect that it’s skull was just mysteriously absent in that place.

That wasn’t what got me though. It was the eyes. They glowed and stared right into my soul just like I had imagined they would. It had a snout and it tapered off into a beak that became visible as the head rose silently from the water. I glance down, breaking eye contact to look at the crystal clear water. It was still as clear as it was less than 2 minutes ago, but what troubled me was the lack of a body or shadow underneath the yokai’s head. There was nothing there, it was like the kappa was forming at the very surface of the water.

Breaking eye contact with the kappa had been a mistake.

 

Rin was still watching Father Fujimoto with a hawk like gaze, so I was the only one who was able to see that the  _ thing _ was watching us and creeping up. I open my mouth to yell, and I even get halfway through yelling Rin’s name, but I get interrupted by the kappa fucking launching itself at me. One moment I was standing with Rin’s hand loosely holding my wrist, and then the next, cold clammy fingers that were way too long to be human had wrapped themselves around my neck and I was being pulled into the water with a large splash. 

I didn’t hit the bottom, and if I wasn’t being strangled under the water, then I would be seriously concerned about the fact that I was 97% sure that I was standing vertical in the water  _ and not touching the bottom _ . The fucking river  _ was _ deeper, and I was drowning! Instinctively I tried to fight back, but the water was a lot colder than it should have been and the cold seeped into my body, slowing my movements.

My limbs were going numb, and I honestly couldn’t tell if the suffocating feeling was coming from the fingers that had tightened enough to close off my windpipe or the water that had surrounded me. I kick around weakly, scrambling to pull at the fingers around my throat but it doesn’t do anything. There’s a pressure around one of my wrists, and amongst my weak thrashing, I see a flash of red as it propels towards me. 

Oh. The kappa got Rin too.

 

That’s… not good? I mean if I was going to die I’d rather not die alone, but Rin is strong right? I don’t know what the cold would do to him. I’ve seen him bask in the sunlight like a fucking lizard enough times to know that he preferred the heat. Was he cold-blooded or warm-blooded? Were all demons cold-blooded? Why was I thinking about these things when I was literally being strangled to death? I uh… am going to blame this on lack of oxygen. As Bon would say, it’s making me into an even bigger idiot than before. 

But yes, back to the red thing (I believe it’s Rin’s hair but for all I know it could be a rubber ball; my vision is fucking blurry) moving towards me at an alarming speed. The rest of the thing (body) attached to the red latched itself onto the kappa that was behind me and began tearing at the fingers wrapped around my neck. Thank god Rin had demonic strength that appeared to be superior to the old yokai because in a matter of second the fingers were no longer crushing my windpipe and now my only problem was the fact that I was still drowning. 

Deciding that I wouldn’t be of any use to Rin if I was dead - and knowing that I was incredibly out of my league in fighting this thing when I was at full capacity, let alone now that black was creeping around the edges of my already blurry vision - I swam away to get the fuck out of the situation so that the kappa wouldn’t be able to use me as leverage. That and I needed to get back to the surface before I pass out and subsequently drown. 

I kicked upward, fleeing the swirls of water surrounding the blurry figures of Rin and the kappa. It was much easier now, to tell how deep this fucking chasm was. But it looks like we haven’t gotten too far down, because within about 10 seconds of swimming for my life, I was able to make it back to the surface. I launched myself over the side of the river bank and scrambled away as I greedily gasped for air. Panting heavily as I regained my breath and shivered in the cool air. Someone wrapped an arm around my shoulder, steadying me as I nearly collapsed backwards from how weak my limbs were. 

Panicked I turned around, only relaxing a slight bit when I saw that it was Father Fujimoto. “Are you okay? We need to get out of here.” He was saying as he began to tug me into an upright position again. I shook my head. No, we can’t leave yet. Rin is still down there. We can’t leave him because he might be worse for wear when he comes up from the water. Besides, I don’t know if I can move all that much yet. My limbs haven’t stopped shaking yet. 

I turned my gaze to watch anxiously at the water. Now that I wasn’t under it, I was able to see what was happening much better. The images were still warped, but I could clearly make out the creature and Rin thrashing under the surface of the water. I couldn’t tell who had the upper hand in the wrestling match, but I did know that Rin couldn’t breathe underwater and that the kappa could if the way it was screeching meant anything. That meant that this fight had a time limit for Rin to win by if he didn’t want to drown. 

Adding on the time that I’d been down there, it was getting dangerously close to that time limit.

Father Fujimoto continued to tug insistently, even managing to get me onto my feet when a burst of blue flames appeared under the water. That theoretically shouldn’t have been possible under these circumstances, but I guess Rin’s powers were strong enough for it to ignite. The kappa hadn’t been expecting the flames, and in the split second that that surprise allowed, Rin was able t begin swimming up to the surface. The kappa looked enraged and immediately began to swim after Rin, its webbed fingers and toes making it much faster than Rin was. Rin, seeing this, decided to do some shit that came straight from a fucking anime.

And I thought that he couldn’t get anymore main character cliche.

He  _ shot fire from his hands to propel himself through the water???  _ Has he watched Avatar the Last Airbender recently? I bet you that he was secretly an Azula fanboy. He seemed like the type. 

 

That extra burst of speed allowed him to break through the surface of the water and land right in front of us. He gasped loudly, shaking slightly as he scrambled to get to his feet. “We need to go.” he gasped as he began to rush up the hill, to get away from the water. For once, both Father Fujimoto and I were right behind him in his retreat.

 

* * *

 

Izumo P.O.V

After getting into our hotel rooms, things got very boring very fast. I had the misfortune to be partnered up with Moriyama and Shura. I mean, it was still better than what Rin - I was never going to get used to calling him Karma, and since Father Fujimoto still didn’t know, I think it’s safe to call him Rin - had to deal with. 

Shima was an idiot, and an annoyance on a good day. His only redeeming factors being that he was pretty gung ho about supporting Rin now, and that he was more useful in a fight than Konekomaru and Shiemi. Rin had a temper on him, even if he was better at keeping it in check. Father Fujimoto is a little bitch whose only purpose seems to be to make our lives difficult, and I know from experience that that is going to take every ounce of patience Rin has to deal with. 

I mean, I can barely deal with the people I’ve been stuck with. It’s absolutely awful. Moriyama is such a fucking pushover - I was surprised that she was the third person to actually try and reach out to Rin because she’d been so terrified of his powers just the day before - even if she was better about it now, and wasn’t completely useless. Shura was so headstrong that she reminded me a lot of the Rin that we had originally met when we joined this cram class. The Rin that loved cooking and making jokes and running headlong into training exercises with no sense of self-preservation. She had the same proclivity for picking fights as he did. 

She was also one of those ‘all demons are monsters that deserve to be killed’ type of people. I even saw her curling her upper lip at summoners! That’s just stupid! I bet you that she believed that monsters couldn’t be human too. Ughh, she was insufferable. I hate her.

But, I’m stuck with her for the foreseeable future. So I have to deal with her. Yay. 

Just like the other two groups, us girls were given a family to interview. That hadn’t lasted more than 5 minutes. The parents were very unwilling to give us the time of day, and in an effort to not have more of the town’s pathetic population be killed off, we (by that I mean I) decided to head back to the hotel to wait for the others. This entire trip would become 20 times more complicated if Shura murdered someone out of frustration. And she had been turning a rather interesting shade of red. 

We didn’t have to wait all that long in the lobby for Yukio’s group. They came back only 20 minutes after us looking equally as dejected as I felt. Great, the interviews were going real swell. And with how volatile a grouping like Father Fujimoto, Shima, and Rin was, I wasn’t confident that they’d be ding all that well either. 

Yukio immediately began to fill us in on what had happened with his group while Shura did the same. Yukio had not been any more successful despite being the kinder out of the two teachers. I have a feeling that a contributing factor (besides dead children and the like) was the fact that all three of them were teenagers. Konekomaru looked like a fucking nerd, Bon looked like a punk, and there was no way that anyone was going to believe that someone let him be in charge of anything. 

That’s not meant to be an insult - it’s just stating the facts. 

 

Unfortunately, Rin’s group did not return in the expected half an hour. Instead, they stayed away for easily over an hour. Obviously, their family had gone a lot better than either of ours. We were just about to head back up to our separate rooms while we went Yukio and Shura out for some food for all of us when the missing trio stumbled into the lobby of the inn. It was immediately obvious that something wasn’t right and we immediately rushed over to them. 

Shima was leaning heavily against Rin - who for the record didn’t look like he was doing so hot either - and the both of them were soaking wet. Like, completely drenched. Father Fujimoto on the other hand, looked completely fine and was dry. Only one of his sleeves looked to be damp, but his outfit was black, so I couldn’t really tell. It’s not like I actually cared about his well being anymore anyways. 

Shima looked up at us as he heard us approaching, and with his head now up instead of hanging down, it was easy to see that finger shaped bruises were forming on his throat. They were a deep purple with some of the edges still being tinged a bright red, and one of his wrists also had a ring of finger shaped bruises, but in a much lighter red colour with minimal purple. Damn, what did these boys get into? They should have just been at an interview!

“What on earth happened to you guys!” I nearly yelled, only catching myself when I got a dirty look shot at me from the receptionist. “Why are you back so late and why are you soaking wet?” I demand. Shima coughs weakly as Bon reaches over and begins to look at the injuries around his neck. 

“We’ll tell you when we have a shower. Yukio, can I use your room’s bathroom? We can all gather in our room after when we have food. I’m assuming you guys were heading out to get something?” Rin says, his voice oddly quiet as he pushes past us now that Shima was no longer leaning on him. He reached nonchalantly into Yukio’s coat and emerged with a key card before stumbling over to the elevator. He didn’t care whether we responded or not. 

Shima swatted away Bon’s hands as he stood up uncertainly on his own. “Rin’s right. We can tell you what happened later, but long story short, we fell in the river. So I’m cold and wet, and covered in river water.” he grumbled, beginning to stumble slowly over to where Rin was waiting for the elevator. “Meet us in our room in 25 minutes. Bring enough food for all of us.” he called over his shoulder. Father Fujimoto sighed, but he trotted on after the two soaked teens without commenting.

His constipated facial expression said enough. 

Yukio looked confused for a moment before turning to Shura. “Okay, why don’t we get some food, while the rest of you head up to the room that Father Fujimoto and the others are staying in? We’ll wait for the two to come back from their showers to hear about how their afternoon went.” Yukio ordered before turning on his heal and beginning to walk away from us and out of the lobby, Shura on his heels.

 

* * *

 

We all sat around the room, draped over various pieces of furniture. Shima had settled in the middle of the bed he claimed earlier today, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and over his head. He shivered every couple of seconds, but the blanket and warm shower seemed to have been doing him some good. He was leaning subtly into Bon’s side, who was sitting next to him and eating out of a Styrofoam container nonchalantly. Konekomaru had taken a seat at the foot of the bed, all prim and proper like. 

Shiemi and I had taken a seat on the small couch beside Rin’s bag. Shura was perched on the arm of the couch, while Yukio leaned against the wall beside Fujimoto’s bed. Fujimoto, sat on the bed calmly. Each of us had a take out container filled with pleasant and richly scented food. It was filling and warm, and that was enough for me. Rin had only picked at his food though, finishing one of the smallest containers before setting it aside and watching the rest of us eat. 

He sat at the desk in the room, sitting backwards in the chair and watching all of us from under his damp fringe. Every now and then a drop of water would drip from one of his locks of hair that he had missed when he toweled it off earlier. Unlike Shima who was all bundled up and shivering, Rin was comfortably sitting in a thin t-shirt and some more sweatpants, bearing his tattoos for Father Fujimoto to see. Rin was also playing with a small ball of flame and rolling it over his knuckles like a coin or a pen, as he leaned his chin against the backrest of the chair and balanced his upper arms on it. 

Fujimoto stared at him in disapproval, his gaze flickering from the flames to his tattoos. He’d clearly had no idea that Rin was so heavily tattooed. They’d been hidden by his school uniform and arm bracers before this, but now there was only the arm bracers. Even though we couldn’t see the true extent of his tattoos, there was still more than enough of the vibrant roses showing to draw the priest’s attention. He already disapproved of literally everything that Rin did, and it appears that the tattoos only enforced the idea in his mind that Rin was a delinquent. 

I swallowed a chunk of my food before turning to look curiously at him. “So, what happened today?” I asked curiously, waving my chopsticks in Rin’s direction. “You guys left, were gone for way longer than any of us, and then returned completely soaked. What the hell did you guys get in to?”

Rin sighed as he extinguished the fire and looked at me. “The interview went as well as can be expected,” he admitted softly, ignoring how all the eyes in the room had immediately focused on him. “Kagamine Makoto had survived his ordeal with the yokai, and he had been able to describe the attack for us. When Shima asked about his opinion on what he thought it was, he agreed that it was most likely a kappa. He’d done his own share of research, in the weeks following his attack. There were other witnesses to the attack, but they refused to speak with us, so we moved on. That’s when Father Fujimoto wished to see the scene for himself. We went with him to the bridge.”

“It was close to the Kagamine household, and it was supposed to be just a quick in and out.” he continued to explain, shifting his gaze to the floor and not looking anyone in the eyes. His voice was hard as he distantly detailed the events of today. “After going down to the bank, the yokai attacked, dragging both me and Shima into the lake. My previous suspicions were confirmed, it was indeed a kappa. I was able to get us out of there, but not before it had gotten its hands wrapped around Shima’s throat and was a couple minutes away from strangling him. We then came back here.” he concluded.

His eyes looked tired.

 

“You should not have used your flames. You could have easily killed Shima.” Father Fujimoto scolded suddenly, looking at Rin with a hard gaze. I was flabbergasted.  _ That’s  _ what he chose to focus on? Not the fact that he was almost indirectly responsible for one of his charge’s deaths, but that Rin had used his flames  _ that he had complete control over  _ to in order to save a student??? Why was that a bad thing. 

Shima seemed to share my shock. “Woah, woah, woah!” he said, hands waving wildly from under his blanket and nearly upending his take out container. “If Rin hadn’t attacked the kappa how he did, not only would I be dead, but he would as well! I think he was perfectly justified!” he argued. Bon nodded sharply in agreement. 

“This isn’t the first time that Rin’s used his flames in combat. He didn’t hurt Shima, and both of them got out alive. End of story.”

Father Fujimoto wasn’t done yet, with his irrational accusations. “Satan’s flames are not easily controlled. They are incredibly dangerous and something that should not be used lightly. Rin is not in full control of his flames and could have easily lost control and it might not have ended as well as it did.” he insisted, still trying to get us to be wary of the more demonic of the Okumura twins. 

“With all due respect sir,” I interject, ignoring the muffled snicker that came from the lump that was the pink haired member of the Kyoto Trio at my words and the lack of sincerity that they held. “Rin has control over his flames. I’d trust him to place a flame in my hand if push came to shove, and to be quite frank, your level of disapproval seems almost irrational.” I point out, my hackles beginning to rise.

I just don’t get why he keeps on insisting that Rin was going to betray us one day or that he was going to lose control and kill us. There was being cautious and then there was being paranoid. Paranoia in measured amounts was to be expected in our career path, but this was getting ridiculous. When had Rin shown him that he couldn’t be trusted? When had Rin ever lost control? He’d revealed his powers in a less than ideal situation, but it had been to save our lives. I’m tired of this man that we’re supposed to respect, insisting on being incredibly prejudiced against a boy that he himself had taken in over the summer.

But then again, this was the asshole that had abandoned a 6 year old to a shitty home because he’d been too much for him to handle. Why was I so surprised. 

 

Father Fujimoto opened his mouth to respond to my remark, but Yukio cut him off. “That’s enough. We are not here to debate whether we can trust Rin’s control or not. The point is, the scene has now been investigated and we can confirm that it is a kappa. What next?” he pointed out, glaring at Father Fujimoto as he opened his mouth to speak despite what Yukio had just said.

“Is there a way for us to kill it?” Konekomaru asked suddenly, looking around the room, fear blatant in his eyes. “I mean, that’s what we’re here to do, right? Take care of the issue?”

Yukio looked over at his older brother. “Rin?”

“According to my research, there is no definite way to kill a kappa. None that are confirmed anyways.” Rin sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I do know of a way that might work in eliminating the problem that the yokai poses though. Although, I’d rather not do this under the cover of darkness. If I take any of you with me, the visibility will be limited and you’ll all just be a liability.”

Well that was fair. I mean, we were human right? And it would make sense if Rin had heightened senses. I’d seen those golden eyes glow enough times to suspect that he could see far more than we knew. And that didn’t include his natural observation skills either.

“Alright.” Yukio said, beginning to stand up and carrying his own empty container with him. “We’ll all head down to the bridge tomorrow at around 10 AM. For now, get some sleep, and Shima? Try to ice those bruises as much as possible. If the swelling gets too bad then it can cut off your airway.” And then he was walking out of the room along calling for Bon and Konekomaru to follow him. 

After that we all sort of dispersed, with Father Fujimoto retiring to the restroom to take his own shower and the rest of us moving to go to our own rooms. Before leaving, I turned to rest a hand on Rin’s shoulder, doing my best to silently offer my support like what he’d done for me. He nodded at me before beginning to make a makeshift ice pack for Shima. I left the room, knowing that I wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight.

 

* * *

 

As planned, we made our way to the bridge the next morning after having a rushed breakfast. I couldn’t work up an appetite; I was too nervous. I trusted in Rin, but how was he planning on dealing with the demon if he couldn’t kill it? Was he just planning on throwing his flames at it? I feel like that wouldn’t work…

The walk to the bridge was short, and immediately I was hit with the feeling of nervousness as adrenaline began to flood my system. I didn’t like it here. There was something not right that distinctly reminded me of that barn with the Jikininki. People had been killed here, and you could feel that the land was unbalanced. It didn’t feel right anymore, like there was a bad energy flooding the air. It was too cold. I shivered in my uniform, suddenly wishing that it didn’t have such a short skirt. 

We all crowded around the riverbank as Rin approached the water. I wanted to reach out to stop him because the water wasn’t safe, but he was so confident that I suppressed the urge. I was more concerned with the shiver that Shima was giving off as he stared with oddly blank eyes at the water. His shaking intensified the longer we stood here, just waiting. 

I gently grabbed at the elbow of his sleeve, breaking him out of his stupor. No words were exchanged. He glanced back gratefully, and the shivering lessened. 

 

For a moment, nothing happened. We just waited, but then the yokai began to materialize on the surface of the water. It was just as grotesque as I imagined it to be. 

The child sized yokai looked almost like a stupid teenage mutant ninja turtle, but it’s beady eyes and malformed skull quickly disassociated it from the friendly comic characters. It didn’t immediately lunge at Rin, and for that I let out a sigh of relief. Some of its scales looked to be slightly charred, and it stood defensively. That would certainly explain why it hadn’t attacked immediately. It was weary.

Then, Rin began to bend at the waist, bowing deeply, but never taking his eyes off the beast in front of him. The kappa considered him for a moment, indecision evident in its eyes, but it eventually decided on bowing in return. What the fuck? 

No actually, what the fuck?

Why was Rin bowing? Why was the kappa bowing back?

Everything happened in slow motion, Rin bowed and the kappa bowed, and then the weird concave plating of the kappa’s head fell far enough forwards that the water that had collected there drained out. There was a split second where the kappa glared sharply at Rin, but then it was frozen and Rin rose from his bow. “There we go.” he said, a sharp grin on his face as he crouched beside the frozen body of our target. 

“Is that it?” Yukio asked in disbelief. Honestly, I was shocked too. This didn’t seem real. 

Rin shook his head. “Nope. You see, a kappa, despite its mischievious and malevolent nature, places a lot of importance in manners. If one bows to it, than it must bow back. In the process of bowing, the pool of water on its head will drain, and as long as it doesn’t have water in its head, it will be frozen.” Rin explained as he cupped his hands into the stream and coming up with a handful of water. He then poured the water back into the cavity on the top of the things head and it began to move. 

Shima cried out in shock at Rin’s actions. “What the fuck are you doing? Why would you do that?” he demands, his breath beginning to quicken as he stared at the creature that almost killed him. 

The kappa was shaking out its limbs and beginning to slide into the water and away from us, staring with guarded eyes at Rin. Rin didn’t break eye contact with it. “It was going to rain at some point,” Rin explained nonchalantly, “he would have been freed and then continued to wreak havoc on this town. Our job would not have been completed successfully. Something that I didn’t explain was that if one were to refill the head pool, the kappa would be that person’s loyal servant for the rest of eternity or their lifespan. Whichever ends first. Right?” he said, directing the last statement to the creature in the river. 

It narrowed its eyes at the red headed son of Satan.  _ “Yes.”  _ it hissed after a moment, speaking impeccable Japanese.  _ “But you shouldn’t have known that, halfling. Foolish, to act based on rumours.”  _

Rin quirked an eyebrow. “But it worked.” he told it. “You know what I am, you know what you’re in for. I suggest you get back to your river dwelling and cease tormenting the people of the town. Your body count is high enough as it is. I’ll call you when I have need of you.” he informed it in a matter of fact tone, and then the creature disappeared into the depths of the water without a trace. 

He got up out of his crouch and turned to face us. “Well that wraps things up. A demon deal is absolute, especially between demons. Let’s go back.” And that was that. 

A rather anticlimactic ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was kind of lack luster but I actually bothered to look at the wiki page so I consider that a win... also the next chapter is going to be the start of the final arc of the ao no exorcist focused crossover, so if anyone wants to request something too happen in the Ouran High School Host Club fic then pls do - I'm still hammering out details on what I want to happen in it


	26. The Final Arc Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ew I don't like it

Karma/Rin P.O.V

After the last case, things quieted down a lot. Father Fujimoto didn’t bother picking anymore missions because Yukio had had a chat with Mephisto - the guy still gave me the creeps - and he was only here to help with some lessons every now and then. Shura had also taken a step back, allowing Karasuma-sensei to actually begin seriously training the cram class. It was at a much slower pace than what Class E went through because there wasn’t a time limit and he had less time during the day to work with us. 

Well there’s also the fact that they were considerably less excited to learn than we had been, and that’s saying something. I mean at least we had some determination and competency by the end of the year…

Still I can’t be too harsh on them. They had improved a lot over the course of the school year, and were steadily improving. By the end of next year, they might actually be able to handle a case on their own without me having to babysit. But that’s more than a year from now, so I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. They had different life experiences, and they were doing the best that they could. 

Things got easier after they stopped treating me like I would turn around and kill them all the second that they dropped their guard. Ironically, this would be the best time to get rid of them, but they’d grown on me, and Yukio could do worse for friends. He could have actually made friends with nerdy assholes like Asano had been. At least I had street cred like DAMN that brat is insufferable. So yeah, with Father Fujimoto no longer trying to turn everyone against me at every turn, the others had actually decent people.

As decent as high school students can be. 

They didn’t flinch from my presence, some of them even deciding to join my group during lunch time. Sugino had welcomed them with a bright smile as soon as I gave him the okay and while Shindou looked a little unsettled at the fact that more cram kids had decided to talk to him, he hadn’t been unwelcoming either. I was just a smidge smug about how these people from my past handled these situations better than the ‘cream of the crop’. They may have special knowledge and abilities, but you can’t beat out plain humanity. 

Bitch-sensei didn’t go to the full mile in teaching us seduction techniques, but she did pound the English language into the cram class’ brains. She also went over some basic gun procedures in Yukio’s place. Despite being the resident gunslinger of the group, he’d asked her to do it due to her background. She’d been all too happy to. She even went as far as to challenge us all to a shoot off. I wasn’t embarrassed to admit that the only reason I won was because I could see farther than she could and my reaction time was inhuman. Sometimes, practice and expertise couldn’t beat out plain biology. 

Izumo and I had begun to have movie nights where we would just sort of binge watch anime and fangirl over American musicals whenever we could. Garry spent hours and hours working with Kyoya and I to learn the tricks of the trade considering running a business and he spent more and more time at the dorms. It was really nice to see him more, and with a lack of missions I was able to focus on spending more time with him and on my school work. I even managed to boost my grades another couple of percent by covering some extra material in my free time. 

Things were going great. And of course, that’s when we hit another little bump in the road. 

You see, we were all sitting in the courtyard once more in a circle. The entire cram class had decided to join us today, and since 4 of us were in the top percent of the A Classes (Shindou, Sugino, Yukio, and me) we had various textbooks laying around on the ground and balanced precariously on people’s bags and knees. The four of us were trying to tutor the others because it was exam season (this year is almost over thank fuck) and everyone needed to keep their grades up.

Having a reputation is all fine and dandy until you lose it by being fucking stupid. I cannot handle stupid people, it just doesn’t work out well. The cram students were known by the school as ethereal and something a little extra. There was a reason that there was so few people in this special program after all. They just didn’t know that it was about history and connections. To them, there was something extra about the cram class students, and because they mainly kept to themselves, they were out on an even higher pedestal. 

I know from experience what it is like to be on the bottom of the food chain, and let me tell you, remaining slightly to the left of the top of the social hierarchy is the best place to be. The cram class wasn’t involved in the popularity contests that the students had amongst themselves, but they held a position of esteem in everyone’s books. Them remaining aloof and in the distance helped a lot. Especially since looks and grades weren’t doing much to make them look intimidating. 

I couldn’t improve looks - not even I can work miracles - but I can do my best to improve grades. I was not about to be associated with morons. That was just unacceptable. 

Shima wasn’t getting much out of this, but Izumo, Shiemi (who had been homeschooled all her life and greatly appreciated Sugino’s calm encouragement), Konekomaru and surprisingly Bon got a lot out of this and seemed to actually be enjoying this group study session in the sun. The others milling around the courtyard were not so subtly watching us with curious eyes, and I admit that I might have made a bit more of a show out of basking in the sun than I normally would have. 

Hey, I enjoy the sun. It was like a source of my inner fire or whatever. 

Shut up.   
  


Things were going well. I was just finishing re-explaining a trig concept to Bon when suddenly the courtyard went silent. I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand on end, and I tensed up. Something was going to happen. In the silence, footsteps echoed on the cobblestone ground. I turned around, subtly placing the math textbook on the side of the fountain as I turned to face whoever had decided to approach our group. 

And of fucking course, it was Shiratori Reiji, the school’s resident gangster moron. 

He was fuming as he stomped over towards us, his eyes zeroing in on me. “You!” he screamed, pointing at me in what he probably thought was a threatening manner. But here he was, approaching a literal pack of dangerous people without any backup. “You ruined everything! Because of you I got suspended and my dad is  _ not  _ pleased. You should have just kept your stupid mouth shut!” he shrieked, his face going red the longer that he yelled.

So that’s why I hadn’t seen him around school lately. I sneered at him. “You’re the idiot that decided the be a fucking Nazi. That’s not my fault.” I said snottily, sniffing and sticking my nose up in the air in a mocking manner. I heard Izumo muffle a snicker from behind me. Of course, this comment only seemed to enrage him further.

“It’s all your fucking fault! You and your pathetic brother have wreck my life. You’re going to pay, Okumura.” he growled out, tuning out what I’d said. He was a couple feet away from us now, and I sighed in exasperation as I made a big show of standing up and cracking my knuckles.

“Come on. Even an idiot like you should be studying right now. I have better things to do than to be dealing with you. Run along now,  _ you’re not wanted here _ .” I glare at him, dropping the happy go lucky attitude he knew me by. I had ditched that months ago, but this asshat just really rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted him gone, but killing him would cause too many waves at a school like this. “Leave.” I ordered.

He snarled. “You and those pathetic cram kids should leave. This is my school and scum like you doesn’t deserve to be here. Your bleached friend agreed with me even.” he would have sounded smug if he hadn’t been so angry. I raised an eyebrow, ah yes, that had been months ago as well. I wonder where he got his gossip from? Bon hadn’t been trash talking me for a while, and enough people had seen us together around the school to know that he was over it.

I opened my mouth to respond, but then there was a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see a stony faced Bon standing up. “Sit down Rin. Help Shima with quadratics. I got this one.” Normally I’d refuse on principle because I can fight my own fights, but I kind of wanted to see how thing would turn out.

Bon had never officially apologized, and I was quite fine with that. It was better to let sleeping dogs lie - the past was in the past you know? He might have felt bad, but Bon wasn’t the type of person to openly regret his actions. Neither was I, so I understood that pretty well. We had an unspoken alliance at this point, but so far, it hadn’t been tested farther than choosing me over Father Fujimoto. What would he do? Would he defend me? And how?

I jerked my chin in a nod and sat back down, crossing my legs and angling my head in a way that made the sun glint off my irises. However, I didn’t move to grab the textbook or even approach Shima. That would make it look like I was following Bon’s orders instead of letting him just take the lead on this. Bon wasn’t looking back at me, and was instead glaring at Shiratori. 

“Shiratori, just fuck off. Okumura might be an asshole, but he worked to get here and has as much right to be here as I do. Much more than scum like you.” he said, crossing his arms. Reiji seemed to be taken aback by the fact that Bon hadn’t agreed with him. Apparently he’d been expecting Bon to be his backup. 

Shima laughed loudly and called over, “yeah! It looks to me like no one wants  _ you  _ to be here!” Then he threw a notebook at, which I deftly dodged so that the notebook smacked Yukio in the face instead. “Help me, Rin! I’m going to faaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiil if you don’t.” he pouts theatrically. I roll my eyes and suppress a smirk. 

“You’re going to fail no matter what, Shima. No amount of studying is going to fix that.”

He continues to pout, but it’s an exaggeration and done just for show. He too, was looking at Shiratori from out of the corner of his eye, a glint in it that I was intimately familiar with. Curiosity, intrigue, glee. He was also excited to see what was going to happen next. 

Bon shifted slightly, evenly shifting his weight between both feet in a power stance that I know Karasuma-sensei had taught him. But despite the surprisingly threatening presence that Bon made, Shiratori wasn’t intimidated. He just walked right up and got in Bon’s face. “Yeah? You really think so? When my father hears about this, you’re going to regret this. Your precious Cram Class status won’t save you now. I’ll have all of you expelled.” he sneered, looking like he was sorely tempted to spit on Bon. At that moment, I had no idea what the rugged teen was going to do.

He was kind of like me in a way. More unrefined and much more physical, even if his grades were good. He was quick to anger, and much more… loud about it. He yelled where I got even. But he also had a cold anger, like most people did. Only a month or two ago, he’d hated me with a burning passion. He would not have been inconvenienced by my death, and never before, had Bon stepped in to stop any kind of bullying. He simply left it be because it wasn’t his problem.

If it had anything to do with Konekomaru or even Shima, Bon was always quick to the defense. But no one bothered the Cram kids. They were untouchable, with me being the exception due to the way they publicly isolated me for a while. The Kyoto Trio had had a presence at this school that I hadn’t been able to garner in the same way. But all the same, no one bothered the Cram kids. Well, except for Shiratori Reiji. 

This was uncharted territory.

Bon stared at him for a moment and then suddenly he was moving. His hand formed a fist and it hit Shiratori right in the nose, knocking him back a good couple of feet. Reiji clutched at his nose as blood dripped through his fingers and down his hand. He was staring wide eyed at Bon, and so was Shima, Izumo, and Konekomaru. Shiemi gasped theatrically, her hands moving to cover her mouth as she stared at the scene in front of us. Even Yukio looked stunned. I was stunned. I was just better at hiding it. 

Sugino and Shindou continued to do their math revue, bless their hearts. 

“Bon! What the hell?” Shima yelled, flailing as he gaped at the teen standing in front of us. 

Shiratori didn’t move. “Y-you punched me!” he yelled, his voice curving up slightly at the end to make it sound more like a question than a statement of outrage. He just seemed so shocked that Bon had punched him. “You punched me!” he repeated, his vice slightly warped from the fact that he was clutching hs dripping nose. Bon smirked as he stood tall and proud, not shaking his hand even though I knew that had to hurt.

The first time he’d used the punch that I’d taught him during training he’d cursed for 3 minutes straight.   
  


“Well he had to get you to shut up somehow. In case you didn’t know, the cram class is close with the principal. Pheles-san will take our side, as this academy is in no way connected with the Japanese government.” I grin ferally, moving forwards to stand a foot or two behind Bon as another strong presence. Shiratori paled before stumbling backwards before frantically trying to run away. Due to that, he didn’t see the other’s surprised reactions. Bon hid his surprise well, but I could see the way that his body stiffened slightly. He thought I was bluffing. I wasn’t. 

Brother dearest, would do anything for family.

 

* * *

When I got back to the dorm, I was alone. Yukio was staying behind to make another lesson plan and mark some tests, leaving me to head back to the dorm rooms alone. Garry wasn’t scheduled to be there tonight, so I was going to be the only one in the building for the next few hours. 

That suited me just fine as some peace and quiet was appreciated from time to time. I could actually study for my upcoming exams, instead of just tutoring below my own lessons. It was exhausting, as the cram class kids just didn’t have the drive that I’d seen from Class E. They’d had a reason to want to get into the top 50, while some of the cram class students were satisfied with just getting good grades. It was inconceivable to someone as competitive as me. The need to be the best was simply too strong. And it wasn’t like it wasn’t doing me any good.

There was a reason that I was so capable and recognized as the Reaper. 

I unlocked the door to the dorm room and waltzed right in, turning on lights as I went. Even though I could see in the dark, sometimes it was just nice to be able to pretend I was normal for a bit. Nagisa always lectured me about studying in the dark, said it would ruin my eyes. Well I guess that we know that that’s wrong now. 

I move through the dorm room, throwing my bag down on a table as I pull out my phone and connect it to a speaker system that I’d installed a month or two ago. “Ritsu, turn on some music?” I ask as I make my way towards the kitchen area where Ukobach should have been banging around. He wasn’t there, but I didn’t really think all that much about it. Ukbach sometimes took the night off, now that he knew that I actually enjoyed cooking. I began to pull out ingredients to begin making some basic fried rice. 

It was a late night and I still had a lot of studying to do, so I was making some comfort food. Sue me. 

 

_ If you ever feel scared or lost or lonely, just  _ _ look my way _

_ I will always be here for you... Everything will be okay  _

 

It’d been a while since I’d last heard this song, but in all honesty, I’d missed this. My early writing spree had been less than phenomenal, but it had been a comfort, back when I was still living with the Akabanes. Had to have some creativity right?

 

_ As they say, one life is worth another's so  _

_ I'll protect you from the horrors as we go  _

 

The food sizzles pleasantly as I mix it so that it doesn’t burn, all the while humming. The apartment was filled with a pleasant soft noise, and I was almost able to ignore the odd unsettled feeling that I was feeling. 

Almost. 

 

_ If it means that you can keep smiling  _

_ Then let me rest a while, I will be sleeping...  _

 

Something… was off. I didn’t know what though. It was weird. There was no sound in the apartment apart from the music Ritsu was playing and the sizzling of the rice and meat as it cooked.

Until I heard the door open. There was footsteps coming down the hallway. It must just be my nerves getting to me. Yukio was probably done his work, and I was suddenly glad that I had made more food than before. Yukio would no doubt be hungry and he almost ate as much as me. Maybe he inherited the demonic appetite. 

 

_ If you ever feel scared or lost or lonely, just look my way  _

_ I will always be here for you... Everything will be okay _

 

The music stopped, but the footsteps didn’t. They just got louder as they approached and I moved to turn around when I noticed what was off. The footsteps were too light to be Yukio’s. In fact, they were completely unfamiliar to me. I didn’t know this person that had entered the dorm that I know I locked. This unknown person, who was now behind me. 

Fuck. 

I moved to turn around but before I can do anything I feel a sharp pain at the back of my neck before my legs went weak and I hit the floor. Black began to creep up around the edges as I lay on the floor gasping. Small heeled dress shoes clicked across the tile as they approached me. 

The last thing I saw before the darkness completely took over my vision was a flash of blonde hair and a green skirt.


	27. We All Knew That This Was Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any plot points that ppl want for the next one (your boi is heading on over to Ouran to wreck shit) pls do comment below, but the one thing that isn't happening is a reveal of any sort like no mob boss, no demons. Nothing like that.
> 
> I mean harry potter headcanons (relevent to possible plot points) are welcome as well. The ouran one is supposed to be a shorter installment so we'll see where that goes.

Nagisa P.O.V

For once it was a quiet because we’d closed the club for the night. Exams were coming up, and while that increased the number of people wanting to party, the number of people actually partying here was nonexistent. We were all fine with that - Korosensei’s studying habits had been drilled into all of our heads, so we sort of just took over an office and group studied. We were going to do well now that we were all in good schools. 

Kyoya-san even went to the same school as us, even though he was in the grade above. He helped us with some of the material when he could, but he was usually busy with running the accounting department (why a gang has an accounting department - literally only two people - was still a mystery but at least Karma was having someone qualified manage his money?) for the Tricksters and managing his host club. It was an odd hobby, but he enjoyed it, so we didn’t bother begrudging him. 

He’d known Karma a lot longer than any of us had, and he was well mannered even if he did joke about us being commoners every now and then. It was all in good fun, and I’d met Suoh, so I know what he was joking about. That weeaboo seriously had issues though…

But I can’t judge Kyoya based off of his poor choice in friends, so I suppose I can leave it alone for now. 

 

So we ended up just sitting down in various places around the room with various textbooks and notes just sort of sprawled everywhere. School differences didn’t matter - we studied from everything without discrimination even if we might not need it for the exam. Knowledge was power, and if we learned anything from working with Karma for so long, it’s that power is incredibly important in the world we live in. 

Karma valued usefulness and since we value Karma - some people more reluctant to admit this aloud than others - we worked hard. The money from our part in Korosensei’s death helped support us for school, but the money from the jobs that Karma gave us to work with helped support our families. I know Isogai and Maehara are both incredibly grateful for the help that Karma had silently extended to their families. We all are really. And to those that don’t have a great relationship with their family, there was the open invitation to stay here. 

Tonight, we’d all elected to stay together. I can’t really explain it, but I just had a weird feeling. Something was going to happen and we need to all be together. I don’t know why, or if anything is actually going to happen. But regardless we’ll be able to help each other study. It had been weird trying to study by myself for midterms. I was lucky that I went to the same school as Kayano. 

 

* * *

It was around 7 at night when something finally happened. We’d stopped studying maybe an hour ago and had split off into smaller groups to just chat or have a nap before studying some more into the night. It was a weekend, so it wasn’t like we had anywhere to be tomorrow morning. I was laying on my back and staring at the ceiling and contemplating life when I felt a buzzing in my pocket. That wasn’t unusual, but at this time at night there wasn’t many people that would call. 

All my classmates went to bed early and knew that I had a serious work ethic so I would study late into the night and never party (with them), so they wouldn’t call now - especially since exams were right around the corner. I answer the phone, curious as to who would even have this number. Ritsu wasn’t able to trace it to get a caller ID, and I suppose that should have been the first warning bell. 

“Moshi moshi, this is Shiota Nagisa. Who is this?” I said as I raised the phone to my ear. 

_ “Ahhhh~ Hello, Shiota-chan! This is Pheles Mephisto - the headmaster of True Cross Academy.” _

I sat up abruptly, drawing the attention of the others that were awake. “True Cross Academy?” I ask sharply, “what’s going on?” Why would the apparent headmaster be calling  _ me  _ about something to do with Karma’s school? Wouldn’t he be calling Sugino about this? He went there after all… why would he know me?

_ “Unfortunately, it seems I bring you some… well… unfortunate news. Okumura Yukio, Karma-chan’s baby brother, came into my office earlier in a tizzy.”  _ The man spoke on the other end, his voice warbled and lilted with what would sound like amusement to the inexperienced ear but I was able to hear the undercurrent of concern. 

That’s… not good. When even the mysterious headmaster sounded concerned - and from his voice I gathered that he was generally a chaotic neutral if you will. Much like Karma on a good day. “What do you mean by that? Yukio went to  _ you _ ? Over the great ‘Father Fujimoto’?” It was somewhat bizarre. From what we’ve heard from Karma in the past months, nobody really talked to the headmaster, but we did know that they knew Father Fujimoto. You’d think that even though they don’t like him all that much anymore, that they would have gone to him first.

_ “Well yes, this problem does concern me more than it does Father Fujimoto. You see, dearest dad has decided to get involved in the affairs of the human world.”  _

“Dearest Dad?” I ask, confused beyond belief. Why was he calling about family issues? And why was Yukio involved in any way shape or form. I really didn’t like where this was going.

_ “Oh, it appears that you didn’t know. I’m Karma-chan’s half brother!”  _ he replied cheerfully. By now, the others had nudged the sleeping teens awake and I had subtly switched the call to speaker phone before answering.   _   
_

“Yes but what does that have to do with us? Karasuma and Irina are working with your cram class are they not? If you needed extra help we aren’t necessarily the most qualified. I’m sure you know, if you’re calling this number, that we aren’t the ones that deal with the supernatural. It doesn’t necessarily fall under our… skill set.” I said in confusion. I mean it sucked that Satan was getting involved, but this wasn’t our area of expertise. There’s only so much that we can do, right?

I didn’t like where this was heading.

 

_ “Akabane Karma has gone missing.” _

 

* * *

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I woke up slowly feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton. Everything was dark, and my muscles felt stiff. Sleep had coated my eyes with a thick crust, making it hard for me to open them, but after a moment or two, I managed to unstick them. I was in a dark room that even my eyes couldn’t get a good read on. It was an artificial darkness - something that I would not be able to see through. 

I felt odd - not in the way that one would normally expect from waking up anyways. My head was full of cotton and felt heavier than ever before. I was groggy, not quite able to take in the amount information that I was used to, and that made me feel weird. It was like my brain was working slower than normal. Was this what everyone else felt like?

Woah, that was a weird thought. This isn’t right. There’s a certain amount of disorientation to be expected when waking up, but this was more than that. It was like… maybe something happened before I fell asleep? Everything is blurry as fuck and I just sort of… can’t think. I don’t… remember what happened before I passed out? I did pass out right. There’s so other explanation. 

I look around, trying to get a better gauge on my surroundings. It was disorienting, not being able to see like I was used to, but I pushed past it to the best of my abilities. The walls were far enough away that I wasn’t able to see them, although I could see the floor for about a meter in front of me. My neck was stiff and sore, so turning my head was far more difficult than it should have been. That was a cause for worry that I could only afford to catalogue right now. 

I tried to raise my hands to rub my eyes, and that’s when I felt the ache in my shoulders. My hands were secured above my head with… something. It was seamless and stuck to my skin no matter how I twisted. All I succeeded in doing was giving myself a nasty rug burn around my wrists. I’m wearing my school uniform, just the pants and the thin tank top that I wear underneath the white button up. My socks and shoes were gone too. Whoever it was that had taken me, had even taken my belt and other concealed weapons. I was completely unarmed for the first time since I was fucking nine. 

 

The panic began to set in. 

I was suddenly much more awake than before. My hands were immobilized - I couldn’t even feel my fingers right now… was it a drug? - and I woke up in a dark room. This was the set up of a lifetime. I wasn’t in the dorms any longer, the air smelt different. Well, at least I think that the air smells different. Everything’s dulled. Shit. I can’t fucking think, let alone recognize where I am. Fuck. 

I’m leaning back against some sort of large ‘x’ with my hands stuck to the area where the two beams cross due to the fact that I was sitting on the floor, my legs curled awkwardly beside me. I try to shift them, but they don’t move either. There are more bindings wrapped around my ankles and secured to the bottoms of each beam. It’s not a comfortable position, and certainly not one that gives me enough leverage to work with. I can’t even attack anyone if they get close. My only viable weapon is my teeth and I can’t reach any of the bindings with them. I tug uselessly at them for a moment, my eyes beginning to sweep the room again as my panic rises.

I’ve been kidnapped by some unknown, and I’ve been drugged so that my senses are dulled. I reach deep down into myself, trying to feel for those damn flames that probably got me into this mess in the first place, but every time I get a grasp at the edges of the power, it slips away like water through my fingers. It’s infuriating, but I know that I won’t be able to use those cursed flames to rescue myself. 

Fuck.

I huff as I twist around, craning my neck to try and see deeper into the darkness. This wasn’t working, and I have no idea if anyone even knows that I’m missing! FUCK. I’d really gotten myself into a situation. I slump back against the metal ‘x’, silently admitting my defeat and trying to reassess the situation. Whoever had taken me had to have had a reason right? Everything had been quiet on the Trickster front recently, and it’s not like my face is well known. Nobody in the exorcist community should have it out for me enough for them to actually kidnap me, so that’s out too. 

Do I know anyone else with the capability?

  
  
  


Of fucking course that question gets answered literally 5 seconds after I think it.

The sound of clicks begin to echo through the room as someone wearing heeled shoes approaches. The floor is tiled - that explains why it is so cold then. I shiver involuntarily as the temperature in the room seems to lower even more, making my thoughts slow. This was another apparent downside of my ‘demon awakening’ - my inner fire made the cold a very bad thing. 

I look up, planning on glaring defiantly at whoever was walking towards me, but that plan was derailed real fast at the sight of who it was. 

The girl approached slowly, like a predator stalking her prey (and for all intents and purposes, he essentially  _ was  _ her prey now). She wore simple black uniform heels over white knee high socks. The socks fell a couple inches below the blackened edges of a forest green skirt. The black burnt patches wove up the front of the dress, leading up to the girl’s face. Perfect blond curls cascaded down the front of the damaged dress, looking wholly unaffected by whatever damaged the dress.

Unfortunately for her, the damage  _ did  _ seem to spread up to her facial features. Half of her face was twisted and gnarled and covered in bright shiny red skin. It looked painful and fresh, even though I knew for a fact that it had been years since she got those scars. Half of her mouth twitched up as she smirked at me, revealing razor sharp pointed teeth that glinted in the lowlight. 

“Hello, Ib. It’s been a while.”

Mary.

 

Fuck. I glared sharply at her and half-heartedly lunged in her direction in a vain attempt to attack her. She merely took a step back and began circling me - her grin never leaving her mouth. “Mary.” I hiss in response. “You’re looking good, how’s life been.” Her eyes gleamed with an odd combination of delight and anger as she stopped right in front of me.

“It’s been awful. But I’m sure you know why.” she snarled, reaching out faster than I could see to grab my chin and jerk it upward at an awkward angle so that I couldn’t bite. I tried anyways. “Oh but don’t fret, I missed you all the same.” Her smile widened. “We have all the time in the world to make up for lost time.” She jerked my head to the side again, pressing my head back against the metal ‘x’. Then she let go and backed away, reaching into the darkness and coming back with what looked to be a crowbar.

It was rusted over, and the end looked to have been broken off on one side, but it was still recognizably a crowbar. She twirled it expertly in her hands, looking like she was just handling a pallet knife with how comfortable she was. Without pausing in her movements, she abruptly swung the bar until it smashed with inhuman strength into my right thigh. The movement was so unexpected that I couldn’t smother my cry of pain. 

“You looked so lovely in red. Lucky me that you’re wearing white!” she giggled - and what followed was red hot pain. She was viscius with her movements, not giving a moment of reprieve and using her enhanced strength to her advantage. With every one of her deliberate hits, red flew in the air - and in my presence of mind all I could think was that this was like some stupid scene out of an anime. What with the blood flying through the air. It got all over the front of her dress, ruining it even further, and I felt a small bit of vindictive pleasure at that. 

Her bright blue eyes almost took on a reddish hue the longer this went on, but that might have just been my own vision going hazy. It was already limited due to my inebriated state, but in the dark haze that was my vision, all I could really see was Mary. And let me tell you, her presence alone was wreaking havoc on my poorly handled and suppressed PTSD. 

Her assault let up for a moment, giving me time to breathe and attempt to curl in on myself as I made a pathetic attempt at cataloguing my injuries. Despite my rather violent history, the extent of abuse that my body has suffered never neared this level of injury. I’ve had small isolated incidents, and my adoptive father was a sack of shit - but the worst that happened was a couple broken bones or some bite marks and lacerations. Bruising was common due to training, but I was always victorious in my fights and I healed fast. Now my healing was slowed down and  _ a lot  _ and after receiving so many wounds in quick successions, needless to say that I was feeling it.

I like to think that I have a high pain tolerance, but pain tolerance did shit all when I was fucking dying from my injuries. I know my ribs were really bad, and something must have happened with at least one of my lungs because I was currently weakly coughing up blood. Both my arms were broken in multiple places, and one of my shoulders was dislocated as I hung limply. My legs were less damaged, but they were still heavily bruised. Luckily, she hadn’t broken either of my femurs, but there was still a strong chance of me drowning in my own blood.

Today was going great.

“Well don’t you just look darling.” she grinned, reaching forwards and gently caressing his chin with the tips of her fingers. They were deathly cold, and they smeared blood on his jaw line. “Red really is your colour.”

I rolled my head so that I could glare weakly through my bangs up at my tormentor. She had delicate splatters of blood on her face and in her hair while her dress skirt was completely soaked with the blood that I was leaking from being caught with the sharp end of the damn crowbar. “Had enough yet?” I gasped weakly, “‘cause I can do this all day.” I panted harshly, doing my best to ignore how fucking weak I felt. 

She looked utterly insane with the blood flecked all over her face. Was this how I looked right before a kill? 

Had she always been like this or was it a demon thing?

“Oh honey,” she smirked. “We’re just getting started.” And as he succumbed to his injuries, her hysterical cackle echoing through the room lulled him into a far from restful sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as promised the E Class kids are going to be more involved now! The final act has arrived and shit is going to go down the Class E being bamfs all the way. Next chapter might be a bit late - I'm going away for March break and since I update on sunday's idk when I'll be able to post. Plus I didn't exactly have this chapter done in advance so uh, this one might not be where I want it to be.


	28. The Cavalry is Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on my phone during a 10 hour car ride, so it's going to be littered with typos but I swear I will edit everything before the next installment in this series. Also I'm sorry that it's a day late but I had no wifi

_“Akabane Karma has gone missing.”_

 

* * *

 

Sugino  P.O.V

“What the fuck do you mean he’s gone missing.” Nagisa hissed. We were all taken aback by the viciousness in our second-in-command’s tone and word choice. Nagisa never swears.

_“Exactly what I just said. Akabane Karma has gone missing. When Okumura-chan returned to their dorm room, there was signs of a struggle, and Karma-kun was missing. I was only informed of this an hour ago when Okumura-chan came rushing in along with his group of students. Karasuma-san and Jelavich-san have apparently already gone to do some reconnaissance on where he might have been taken.”_

Well that solved the mystery as to why it was this apparent demon king was informing us and not Karasuma-sensei or Bitch-sensei. But still, there was too little information to work with. “What do you have so far?” I ask, trying to diplomatically make my way through this. Nagisa was emotionally compromised right now, and he needed some time to regain his composure. That’s what the rest of us were here for.

_“Ah yes, Karasuma-chan hasn’t gotten back in touch with me yet, but he was going to inform the Vatican while Mrs. Jelavich was going to try and pick up some clues from the scene.”_

Nagisa glared at the phone. “And why exactly, hasn’t Yukio contacted us? What are they planning on doing?” he asked rapid fire. “Fuck it, where are you right now? We know where the dorm is so we’ll meet you there.”

There was an audible tone of surprise in the headmaster’s voice as he responded. _“That would be delightful! I’m afraid that Okumura-chan was unable to contact you due to emotional distress. I do hope you will be more professional. See you soon~”_ He sing songed right before hanging up, much to Nagisa’s obvious displeasure. He very nearly threw his phone at the wall in his frustration.

“They were supposed to watch him! They weren’t supposed to _lose_ him!” He shrieked as he _did_ throw the closest textbook at the wall. He was breathing heavily, his face flushed in uncharacteristic anger. After a heavy silence, the fight seemed to drain out of his small body and he sagged, collapsing into the wall. “He’s _missing_.” he whispered, burying his head into his hands.

“Well we obviously need to track him down.” Isogai said in frustration. “That Pheles guy said that Karma’s bio-dad has made an appearance and is involved in Karma’s kidnapping. We need to tread carefully, but… we just don’t know enough about the situation!” He was frustrated beyond belief at the situation they were stuck in and it really showed in his voice. It seems one of their own getting kidnapped when they had trusted that he would be safe was what set off the normally calm teen.

“We need to talk to the Cram Class and see what they’ve figured out… and what they missed.” Maehara nodded, wrapping an arm around Isogai’s shoulders subconsciously.

Nagisa clenched his fists at his side and took a deep breath. “You’re right. We don’t have time to fall apart now - not when Karma needs us. With every wasted moment the likelihood of us being too late increases.” He very nearly snarled as he turned to face away from them all in an attempt to compose himself. “Get suited up. Meet outside in 5.”

We nodded, each rushing out of the room to go and get our equipment. We’d need to be prepared for anything, and it was unlikely that we’d be stopping back here again before some sort of rescue attempt was made. We were on a time crunch as we had no idea whether Karma’s captor would want to keep him alive or not. We didn’t know why they wanted him. They could just want him out of the way or they could want to use him, but we had to prepare for all possible situations.

The Cram Class was panicking and not handling this well - we couldn’t afford to do that. We may be the same age as the exorcists in training, but we knew the darker side of the world intimately thanks to the hunger Korosensei had instilled in all of us (being taught to want to kill at the age of 13 was something that would last - the bloodlust instinct wasn’t going away any time soon, and with it went our shot at being normal).

We could handle this. We could rescue Karma, with or without the Cram Class.

 

* * *

 

We went to the school together - a legion of teens dressed in military-esque uniforms. We got some odd looks, but at this point we really didn’t give two shits about what people thought.

Over the year we’d all made some modifications to the gym class uniform that we’d worn at Kunugikaoka, but for the most part they looked the same as hey used to. They were designed for movement and concealed weapons, so it worked well for us on missions and hits even if it was a little conspicuous. We all had our chosen weapons with us and Ritsu as well. She’d help us as best as she could. Itona had rigged up some basic communicators and we were set to go.

Still, it had been a while since we’d done a mission together, and I was a bit nervous.

I knew the Cram kids better than anyone other than Karma out of us and I was worried. How would they respond to our presence? Last I checked they were still pretty headstrong like Terasaka. They didn’t have anyone that really balanced them out without Karma there. From what I know, Yukio, Konekomaru and Moriyama are all too quiet to really control Kamiki, Bon, and Shima. Throw in the teachers that they had (the priest and that stripper chick) it was just a recipe for disaster.

If the priest ends up being there I feel like Nagisa will fucking lose his shit.

Not gonna lie, I’d like to see that.

 

It was dark outside, but the street lamps easily lead them to the dorm room. It was the only one on this part of the campus and the lights in one of the upper rooms were still on. Quietly we all made our way up, not even bothering to knock as we threw open the door.

The exorcists were all crowded around a table looking to be in various stages of a mental breakdown. Yukio was sitting on the ground with his head in his hands while Moriyama tried to coax him into drinking from a glass of water. Kamiki and Shima were hissing at eat other across the table while Bon and Konekomaru were looking at what looked to be a map. There was a phone laying in the middle of the table. They were waiting for a call.

All of them jolted violently as Nagisa practically kicked open the door and the rest of us filed in. We lined up against the walls, probably looking very threatening in our gear.

Yukio looked up at us in confusion, before his eyes eventually settled on me. “Sugino-san?” His eyes flickered over to the teen standing in front of me. “Nagisa-san? What are you doing here?”

Nagisa - who had apparently not calmed down as much as we thought - glared at Yukio, fingering the gun strapped to his leg as an intimidation tactic. “Pheles called us.” He scowled, glowering at Karma’s brother. He flinched backwards and Moriyama shot us a weak glare.

Yukio turned to look at me. “Sugino-san? How are you involved… I told Mephisto to call Nagisa-san because they were close… but if you’re here where’s Shindou-san?”

“I was in the same class as Karma too. Shindou isn’t here because he’s not exactly in the know. Government secrets.” I say stiffly, suppressing my own frustration with the pushover Karma got to call brother. “We all care about Karma. We trusted you to look after him and because you couldn’t, we now have to clean up your mess.” Wow. I wasn’t as calm as I had thought either.

This time more than just Yukio flinched. The others were just slightly better at hiding it than Glasses McGee here.

Bon glared, shifting his stance into something stronger that I vaguely recognized as a form we learned in the first month of 3rd year at Kunugikaoka. “Oh yeah? And how exactly are you supposed to help? That fancy get up won’t save you from inexperience.” Oh how easily he forgot his little wake up call from months earlier. I smirked as I exchanged a glance with Kayano because Nagisa just continued to glower up at the delinquent looking guy.

“We were taught by Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei. You know what they do for a living - what do you think they taught us? Karma-kun’s not the only one with authority issues.” Itona smirked as he casually flipped the knife in his grip. He was largely our techie, but he was just as dangerous as he’d been back at Kunugikaoka.

Him speaking up drew the other’s attention to him and his own rather… unique appearance. His eyes were almost as unsettling as Karma’s were. The difference was that Itona’s had softened over the years that we knew him while Karma’s only got sharper even if looks like those were rarely directed at us.

Bon flinched backwards as he looked at us with guarded eyes. His eyes flickered towards me with an uncertain look but I just smirked. “Don’t think that the You cram kids are the only students in the school with secrets.”

“Now is not the time for this.” Nagisa cut in, his temper snapping slightly as he lost patience with the verbal dick-size contest we were having. “Karma has been missing for an undetermined amount of time and Pheles wasn’t clear as to what happened. Tells us what you know so that we can plan.”

Kamiki then came forward, looking surprisingly composed despite the ring of red firmly set around her eyes. “We don’t know much besides what Mephisto probably said. Rin had gone back early while Okumura-sensei stayed at the class for some late work. When he got back, the doors were locked but Rin was nowhere to be seen.”

Yukio nodded. “The stove was on and food was in the process of burning, so I knew Rin had come home because Ukobach - the demon that works in the kitchens - wasn’t here at all and he’d never leave food unattended. I checked the dorm, but he wasn’t there so I called everyone to see if they’d seen him. Then I went to Mephisto. He may be a demon king, but he’s also our half brother and he headmaster of this school. He had to do _something_. I guess calling you guys in instead of just informing you was that thing.”

Well wasn’t that reassuring.

“What headway have you made in narrowing down where he might be? We were told Satan got involved? Shouldn’t it be easier to track him with all of that energy in an are?” Kayano asked as she approached the map and looked over it with a calculating eye.

“Well,” Konekomaru began, nervously pushing up his glasses, “it’s not that simple. We don’t know for sure that Satan is actually involved because there hasn’t been any demon gates opened yet. Err, nothing big enough to be Satan anyways. Just a single demon from what we’ve been able to get from the Vatican in such a short time. The Vatican seems uneasy, but they aren’t offering us more aid than that.”

“Do we know how powerful this… demon is?” Okuda asks. “That affects how we kill it right? Do we even know what we’re hunting?”

Shima shuffled awkwardly and the others looked away as well. “Powerful.” Yukio admitted. “If it was able to subdue my brother and keep him… it has to be pretty powerful.”

Just our luck.

Nagisa turns to face us, his hands on his hips as he proceeded to give out orders. As our unofficial leader until either Karma or Karasuma-sensei got here, it was his right. “Okuda, Itona, work with whoever you need to, to find our a way to track this thing. Any exwire not helping Okuda and Itona will be giving us a crash course on how we might be able to kill this demon. It took Karma. We’re not letting it live.”

Almost immediately the other E Class students separated and began to work on their assigned tasks. The Cram kids were a bit slower on the uptake, but I like to think that it’s because they were still in shock or something.

“Unfortunately, until either Karasuma-sensei or Bitch-sensei get back, we can’t do much more than that.” Nagisa said quietly, not projecting his voice so only Kayano and I could hear it. I nodded solemnly. I didn’t like it, but these were the cards that we were given to work with.

 

I lost all sense of time as we went over various different strategies on fighting demons with Bon, Shima and Kamiki and before I know it it was nearly 3 in the morning. That’s when Terasaka of all people, implored us to cease _learning how to kill things_ in favour of _sleep._

“Alright. If we want to be in any kind of shape to stage a rescue mission, then we need at least 4 hours of sleep. It’s 3 AM now, so everybody hit the sack. Karasuma-sensei just messaged and he will be here in the morning around 7:30 to give us whatever information they’ve found. Until then I don’t want to see anyone up. You’ll be useless to us if you don’t get sleep.” No one could really argue against Terasaka’s surprisingly valid order and everyone was moving around the empty dorm rooms and just crashing.

Tomorrow, we would rescue Karma.

 

* * *

 

Izumo P.O.V

When I woke up, I had almost convinced myself that everything had just been a dream. I’d stayed up too late studying and had a weird dream about those kids that we met at the club. I wasn’t in my dorm room but that wasn’t an issue because I’d obviously just crashed with Rin. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Of course, this idea was proven wrong when I got up for the day and entered the common area only to find the group of oddly dressed teens beginning to go about their own morning routines. Everybody else was just beginning to trickle in after their own showers and they seemed to be just as surprised as I was.

The teens were dressed in what looked like a military stealth uniform, but more fashionable and fit for someone doing acrobatics. Less bulky and confining.

There was food on the table and no one wasted any time in beginning to eat. We needed to be ready when Karasuma-sensei came because if the teens’ entrance yesterday was any kind of hint, they’d want to go rescue Rin as soon as possible. Not that I could blame them, I was just as eager to get him back, but I knew the stakes of this mission. I don’t really think that Rin’s ‘friends’ understood.

That’s when they began dumping out various weaponry on the floor along with some basic cleaning supplies. We all just watched them in a stunned silence as they dismantled their equipment and began checking things over. There was no way that they should have been able to carry so much?! They had guns (including what looked to be a sniper rifle) and knives galore. It was unsettling. And did they sleep in their uniforms or…

 

“Hey, what’s with the SWAT team get up?” Shima asked suddenly, breaking the tense silence as he watched the teens laying in various places around the room begin to clean weapons with an experienced efficiency. “And why do you have so many weapons… like where do you even get a sniper rifle.”

The green haired girl - Kayano - laughed as she wiped down a knife before beginning to disassemble a handgun. “Oh honey, we’re much scarier than a SWAT team. As for the weaponry, well much like your own job, we need a particular skill set for our profession.” She said vaguely before smiling along with the others as if sharing an inside joke.

“What exactly is your profession?” I ask boldly. I knew enough about Rin to know that he’d been dangerous long before finding out he was a demon, and if this _show_ the group of teens were putting on meant anything, they had gotten mixed up in the same shit that Rin had. I wanted to know what it was.

Nagisa raised an eyebrow as he stretched lazily, his knife hilt held between his teeth. His piercing blue eyes boring a hole into my soul with their intensity. “You sure you want to know?” He asked slowly after removing the knife. He flicked it lazily and suddenly it was embedded in the wall beside my head. “It’s not something that you’re going to like.”

I did my best to not look at the knife. I’d barely seen him move. If he’d wanted me dead, I’d’ve had a knife through my eye faster than I could blink. In that moment, I could swear I could see the silhouette of a viper overlapping the bluenette’s.

“Yes I do.”

“We’re assassins.”

 

Well I can’t say that I’m surprised. But I also can’t say that that’s what I had expected. I knew that it had to be _something_ that would give Rin that dark look in his eyes, but I’d never guessed murder. I don’t even know why I was so focused on that fact. Like, I know that Jelavich-sensei was also an assassin, but I’d never really been confronted with that reality?

She just didn’t seem like the type. It just didn’t sink in ya know? Like, my English teacher taught me where to hit to kill a demon, but it felt surreal, like when an English teacher just sort of goes on a psychology rant about Macbeth. Not like I was being taught by someone who’d seen the light fade from someone’s eyes and having them been the cause of that.

There was no way that someone like Rin wouldn’t have gotten involved in this shit if his friends had. That means… Rin’s killed someone before.

 

Fuck. Now was _not_ the appropriate time to be having this particular breakdown.

“Oh.” I mumble. “That’s nice. How did you get into that?” I ask, my voice pitched slightly higher than before. Dammit. Why would I ask that?

This time it was Sugino - sweet baseball player Sugino who I have been eating lunch with everyday for almost an entire school year - who answered my question.

“Well there’s only so much we can legally tell you,” he admitted thoughtfully as he reached over and stole Kayano’s cloth. “We got involved in some government stuff back at Kunugikaoka and Karasuma-sensei got sent in to make sure that we could both get the job done and make it out alive. We were the only ones that could do what needed to be done.”

The girl that had been working on narrowing down the search field - Okuda? - continued the explanation. “But that kind of training sticks with you.

“But why were you guys the only ones that could? It doesn’t make sense.” Shima frowned.

Sugino shrugged. “Well we were the E Class so we were very out of the way. Pretty discreet and all that.” He said, almost turning it into a question as he looked over at the blonde standing by the door and watching us. She shrugged in response and continued sharpening her machete.

Yukio looked up then, suddenly looking more awake. “Rin was in the E Class? But he’s the top of the school here!” He nearly yells. Wow. That’s what he picks up on? Not the fact that his brother was _literally an assassin_ but that he wasn’t in the A Classes in middle school?

“Oh he was the first at Kunugikaoka too.” Nagisa snorted, for once not having that terrifying glower on his face. “He just had some authority issues and ended up attacking a teacher. As punishment they sent him to the E Class. But don’t worry, but the time the year was over, all of us were in the top 50.”

That was a large jump. Being at the bottom and suddenly going to the top. That must have caused a lot of unrest amongst the students in the A Classes.

And Rin having attacked a teacher really didn’t surprise me. He had taken an instant dislike of Father Fujimoto’s teaching and he wasn’t much better with Shura’s lessons.

“I remember it like it was yesterday. We all knew who Karma was, but having him come to our class. Well that was an experience.” Nagisa said wistfully.

The big beefy one that told us to go to sleep earlier quirked an eyebrow. “Didn’t he jump off a cliff on the first day?” He asked in slight confusion, then he froze as soon as he realized what he’d just said and his gaze snapped over to Yukio. Yukio had of course paled considerably and looked panicky.

“He _jumped off a cliff?”_ His voice was so shrill it could probably shatter glass. Of course, the former E Class kids looked unaffected.

“To be fair, it was in an attempt to… complete the task we were given.” Kayano defended weakly. “We’ve all done similar things?” She tried. It wasn’t reassuring and Yukio just paled even more.

The E Class began to awkwardly reassemble their weaponry in a heavy silence. That is, until there was a knock at the door.


	29. Mission Start

Kayano P.O.V

In a flash Nagisa had grabbed his knife and gone to the door. We all held our breaths as he looked through the peephole, subconsciously reaching for our own weapons as we waited with baited breaths for him to give the okay. Whether that be to attack or stand down remained to be seen.

His stiff frame relaxed a fraction of a second before he wrenched open the door and ushered in the four people standing there. Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei were the first to step through, neither looking worse for wear other than serious looks - looks that looked completely normal on Karasuma-sensei but out of place on Bitch-sensei. The way that Karasuma-sensei clenched his fists though, told me that they’d discovered something, possibly a lead.

The both of them were dressed much like we were, so I knew that they planned on going with us. Karma being taken was a grave offense and we must not let it go without retribution.

Behind the couple were two more figures. One I recognized as Garry, and the other was a priest of unknown origin. Garry looked the same as I remembered him, especially since the last time I’d seen him had literally been the day before. He was wearing his typical outfit - with him being a demon and all, he didn’t really change his clothes even if he kept a generally human routine - but there was noticeable bags under his eyes. So he knew then.

His violet hair lay limply on the sides of his head, the darker curls at the top sticking every which way. His hands were shoved awkwardly in his pockets and he avoided making eye contact. But the thing that stood out the most to her was how he put as much distance between himself and the priest as possible. It was like he was uncomfortable even being in the same room as the other man.

The priest on the other hand, didn’t look any happier to be here than Garry did, but he also looked worried, so I didn’t bother too much with him yet - there was more important things to worry about. Unfortunately, the priest didn’t seem to share my sentiments and instead chose to fixate on our presence. His eyes scanned the room, taking in the vast amount of kids in an odd uniform holding weaponry at the ready. It must have quite the sight.

“And who exactly are you?”  He asks, looking at all of us with a guarded expression. This caused all of us to bristle in indignation and scrutinize him further than the cursory glance we’d settled on. Nagisa did _not_ look happy, and neither did Sugino. Honestly I couldn’t blame them for feeling apprehensive at all. I didn’t like the way that he was looking at us.

I snear slightly, glaring at the priest in distaste. It didn’t escape my notice that he although he looked to be worried, I had a feeling that it wasn’t for the right reasons. He turned to smile brightly at me, opening his mouth to speak but Nagisa cut him off with a glare. “You’re Father Fujimoto Shirou, right? The one who gave Karma up to the system while keeping his brother because Karma was too much of a hassle to keep.” Nagisa snarled, his former calm completely destroyed by the priest’s presence.

I widened my eyes as I stared at the priest. “Oh so _you’re_ the dickhead that Karma-kun was complaining about. Do you really believe that he’s a liability? Honestly if anyone is a liability it’s little miss Moriyama here. Karma has always had impeccable control over his actions. He never does something he doesn’t want to unless he’s outclassed, and no offense hun, but you really don’t outclass him.” I informed him sweetly. His eye twitched.

“I suppose that that’s just where we’ll have to disagree. Rin is still young and could lose control at any point. It’s unsafe to have him near students especially considering he refuses to work further with Shura.” Father Fujimoto points out. “But that’s beside the point at the moment.  We cannot allow Rin to fall into Satan’s hands, but that brings up the question as to why you’re here?”

Oh that little fucker wanted to play it like that. Why is it always the old men mentor figures that are always screwing everybody over? First we have to deal with bullshit classmates and now we get some wacko priest trying to imply stuff about my friend? This wasn’t going to fly no sir.

“We’re _Karma’s_ friend. We went to school with him before he came to True Cross Academy. We know Karma best, and we are aware of _every_ aspect of his past.” Nagisa spat out.

Father Fujimoto raised an eyebrow. “Knowing the boy is all well and good, but as your green haired friend kindly pointed out, Moriyama-san is the weakest among us. You and your group don’t even know about Gehenna or how to fight demons. How do you expect to be anything other than useless?”

Nagisa looked approximately 0.34 seconds away from pulling out his gun and showing this man what he could do, but I rested my hand on his shoulder to stop him. We couldn’t have him attacking the priest. As much as I loath to admit it, the man still holds enough power and respect from both the Vatican and the people in this room that openly attacking him would be foolish. Besides, he did have a small point in that we didn’t know all that much about the exorcist world, but we’d learned enough to be useful in a fight.

A fight was a fight regardless of who we were up against.

“You don’t know us. You don’t know the things that we’ve done. I suggest you leave it alone, just know that we’re more than capable of rescuing _our_ leader without any assistance from _you_. We have Karasuma-sensei for demonic knowledge, and don’t think you’re so special. You're not the first exorcists we’ve worked with.” I hissed in a low tone. This stupid posturing wasn’t going to help us get our leader back.

“I just wouldn’t feel right about bringing innocent teens into this fight.”  That _fucker_. Yukio shifted awkwardly from across the room.

“Ano, Father Fujimoto… they’re in the same business as Jelavich-san. They can handle themselves.” He said nervously, still pale from finding out about that time that Karma jumped off of a roof. Father Fujimoto paled slightly as he did a double take and actually _looked_ at what we were wearing. He didn’t say anything else though, so I would assume that he understood the implications behind Yukio’s statement

Nagisa turned to look up at Karasuma-sensei. “What were you able to find out?” He asked sharply, shrugging off my hand lightly. Back to business then.

“The first thing we did was assess the scene and then go inform Garry-san.” Bitch-sensei began, exchanging a look with her partner before continuing. “Unfortunately, it seems that he’d already been informed.” Well that wasn’t good news at all.

Who had informed him? Had it been this mysterious Mephisto Pheles? Or something else?

Garry reached into his pocket as he made his way towards the table situated in the centre of the room. He slapped a crumpled paper onto the centre of the table along with a singular yellow rose. If the paleness his skin had taken on meant anything, then I had a feeling another piece of Karma’s past was coming back to haunt us again.

“She left me a note. It was inside Karma’s apartment - where I’ve been staying while Karma stays here for school.” He rasped, his voice thick with emotion. Garry had always been expressive; easy to read. He didn’t bother with hiding his feelings, whether they be flattering or not. Most would consider that a weakness, but he was no slouch as a demon, even if the stories Karma has told us of his time with a human Garry indicated that he was a scaredy cat. “ _She_ took him. We’d thought that she’d died along with the Fabricated World, but we should have known better. Mary always finds a way to get what she wants, and she wants revenge.”

The Cram Class paled and we all took a breath. Mary. That had been the name of the girl in the Fabricated World who’d killed Garry and had traumatized Karma as a child. He’d killed her - burnt her to the ground and years later even burned that damned painting. How was this possible?

 

After seeing our reactions to the whispered name and the sight of the vibrant yellow rose, Father Fujimoto began asking questions. “Who is this ‘Mary’ and what did she do that gets all of you to react like this?”

“Well for starters she killed me and hunted down Karma when he was 9.” Garry said stiffly, not looking up from the note or the rose.

Seeing that that got no reaction out of Father Fujimoto, Yukio took over the explanation. “You know that mission that served as the exwire exam? We were taken into the pocket dimension known as the Fabricated World and discovered what happened to the other victims. Mary was the one pulling the puppet strings all along in that world. Think of her like the world’s Queen of Hearts.” Father Fujimoto’s expression hardened as his adopted son (yup never letting _that_ one go) spoke.

“I see. So she’s dangerous, and based off of the information that Mephisto gave me-“ oh so that’s why he was here in the first place, “-she’s dangerous and possibly working alongside Satan, which makes making sure Satan cannot use Karma to return to the surface a priority.”

It’s funny how he didn’t say that saving Karma was a priority, just making sure that Satan didn’t use him. That implied that killing Karma was on that table.

I don’t know whether I should be happy that Karma hadn’t grown up with _that_ as a parental figure or not. I have a feeling that this story would have been playing out really differently if he hadn’t been abandoned.

Would things have been better though? Isn’t that always the question.

 

“Did the note say anything that we can use?” I asked gently, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. We were still on a time crunch after all. I move towards the table and scan over the note.

 

_My Dearest Garry,_

_It’s been so long since I last saw you (who could’ve known you’d come back to life?) and Ib - or should I say Okumura Rin?  Dearest Daddy has informed me of his identity and I have to say that I’m honestly disappointed in the both of you! Friends don’t keep secrets from friends! That’s a grave crime you know!_

_But I’m not friends with Satan, so I’ll let you in a little secret. I’m not going to hand him over - no sir I have much more important plans for our little Rin-chan. Lying and leaving me behind are both really naughty things to do. Rin-chan needs to be punished. You will find him in the basement of the old church next to the art gallery, when I’ m done with him of course._

_And when Rin-chan is gone… YOU’RE NEXT_

_Love,_

_Your good friend,_

_Mary_

 

The note was written in a bright red crayon on some printer paper. For being done with a crayon, he handwriting was surprisingly elegant and feminine. I hated it immediately. It seemed very childish, with the diction and the mediums used. Some of the letters were even backwards! To someone who had graduated from Kunugikaoka and was currently attending Ouran Academy, this was simply preposterous. Absolutely awful for someone who supposedly had years to learn. Admittedly it was written in English, but Guertena had been an English artist so of course the girl’s first language would be English. It was like she was still mentally 6 or something.

All the same, she should have at least had the mental capacity of a 9 year old. She did speak Japanese alongside her English. I was certain that Karma hadn’t known English when he was 9 and that Garry had never learned the language.

 

“Did anyone check the church then?” I heard myself ask almost distantly. I looked up from the note to see everyone staring at me. Blushing slightly, I huff and look away. “What? The note says that she’ll leave Karma at the ‘church next to the art gallery’ when she’s ‘done with him’ so why not check now? She might have him there!” I point out. Kanzaki smiles and reaches out to rest her hand on my shoulder.

“Kayano-chan has a point. She might have gone there already even if she’s… not done.” Kanzaki flinched a bit as she spoke but she held her stance as she looked Karasuma-sensei in the eye.

Garry sighed and leaned heavily onto the table as he rubbed his temple. The poor man looked so utterly defeated. “We didn’t check yet. We wanted to come back to grab backup in case it was just a trap.” He admitted, even though coming back sounded like the last thing that he wanted to do.

Nagisa nodded sharply. “Alright then. We’ll leave in 15. Suit up.” Then he turned to look at Yukio. “If you guys have some weapons you need to gather or clothes you need to change, you have 15 minutes before we leave without you.”

 

* * *

 

Bon P.O.V

When Karasuma-sensei, Jelavich-sensei, Garry and Father Fujimoto walked through the door, it was easy to see that the E Class was incredibly unsettled by the priest’s presence. And it wasn’t like Father Fujimoto was helping with that either as he stared at the group of assassins with open suspicion. He probably already knew who they were, but he still asked anyways just to create conflict.

I used to look up to this man - he was who I wanted to be as an exorcist. But then I saw a different side of him than the one that I had always heard about and suddenly my entire view had shifted. How could he be a hero when he abandoned one of two twins to the system? They were both sons of Satan, so what made one more worth keeping than the other? A temper? That wasn’t right. If you took in a kid then you needed to look after the kid. You don’t just decide a couple years down the road that you can’t handle them!

And the way he basically treated all of us. He wasn’t a good teacher, and all of his methods just seemed so incredibly our dated. And while he was condescending towards us, he was damn near unbearable towards Rin. Rin had proven that he had control over his flames - Shima was still ranting about that one time he made pie - but Father Fujimoto treated him like a loose cannon.

If even I could see that Rin was almost always in perfect control of _everything_ then why couldn’t he? If we ended up dead it would be our own damn fault for literally poking the bear. That’s part of the reason I ended up siding with Rin instead of the paladin.

My choice was only proven to be more correct when Father Fujimoto’s reason for being here was to prevent Satan from getting an asset. Rin would sooner kill himself than side with Satan - we all remember the speech he’d given in the early days when we asked his opinion on Satan.

 

* * *

 

_“-So I’m going to defeat Satan to avenge my parents and every innocent soul that demon has taken.” I finished my explanation, sitting back in my seat. We were all gathered in the Cram classroom during a break in the lessons. Yukio had been called away and seemingly forgot to get us a substitute, so we were all just sort of sitting in the classroom just in case a teacher did end up showing up and we got in trouble._

_We had started out the evening by doing homework, but eventually it had devolved into a gossip session where we all sort of just talked about why we were here. Moriyama talked about how she’d been attacked by a demon and saved by Okumura, so she came here because she didn’t want to be weak anymore. Reasonable and respectable. Kamiki and Paku were tight lipped but eventually put out that it had something to do with ‘the family business and that their parents wanted them to. Shima and Koneko didn’t want to be useless after we had all witnessed the Blue Night._

_Me? Well I wanted revenge. I wanted Satan out of the picture, permanently. I didn’t want there to ever be another Blue Night._

_But now it was Rin’s turn. “Well, honestly I was kind of pushed into this by my brother and the priest that fostered him. My adoptive parents were murdered by Satan and well, that’s how I ended up finding my brother again. So I see what you mean, by wanting Satan out of the way.” Rin said thoughtfully, smiling brightly at us as he twiddled his pen. “Satan pretty much ruined my life, so I want him gone too. I think I’ll try my best to become strong enough to kill him too. Give you some competition, eh?” He wiggled his eyebrows before suddenly becoming serious._

_His gold eyes flickered dangerously as he stared me in the eye. “I’ll never do anything to help Satan get topside. I’d sooner watch the world burn than let that asshole mess everything up more than he already has.”_

 

* * *

His backstory might have been bogus, but there had been real passion in his words. There was no way that he would ever side with Satan. He’d sooner watch the world burn. A pretty strong statement, but after seeing the real Rin, it made sense.

 

“If you guys have some weapons you need to gather or clothes you need to change, you have 15 minutes before we leave without you.”  Nagisa’s voice cut through my thoughts. The E Class kids had all begun reloading their weapons and grabbing pieces of discarded uniform.

We didn’t really have uniforms (well other than Yukio) and we’d only brought our uniforms with us, so we simply got dressed and left off the upper layers as best as we could. We could move well enough to fight. It wasn’t ideal, but nothing about this situation was. I was just glad that we’d qualified to carry our guns with us now, so my only weapon wouldn’t be some damn sutras.

Izumo and Moriyama both summoned their summons and then we were ready.

“Let’s go.”


	30. The Forgotten Portrait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really want to thank everyone who commented, like I am really struggling with this series and the comments are just so nice! Honestly anyone who comments on any of my stories. Everyone here is just so nice!
> 
> Also sorry for any and all typos! I swear these will all be edited before I post the first chapter of the next installment of this series.

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I jolted awake. There was something bright shining on my face and bringing me back to reality. Almost as soon as I was aware if my limbs again, the pain hit me like a sledgehammer. There was no way that I was fighting anytime soon, even if my healing kicked in and so far it didn’t seem like it would. 

The bright light that had woken me up was the sun - that should help me regain  _ some  _ strength, but not enough for me to move more than a couple feet without risking permanent damage. Shit. 

Wait… the sun! I wasn’t underground after all! I carefully crack open my eyes to make sure that I wasn’t just hallucinating the sun and to take a look at my surroundings. I was still tied to the metal ‘x’ and the bonds hadn’t weakened at all. However I was able to see much more of my surroundings. The sun was filtering down from the ceiling from what looked to be cracks between wooden planks and through rotted parts of the walls. 

The entire building was wood, and it almost looked like I was on some kind of altar. Never a good thing to wake up to, but at least I could see. There wasn’t much  _ to  _ see in the dingy little room, but it was better than the eerie pitch black that had been my surroundings the last time I woke up. Still my situation wasn’t good - I was injured to the point of immobility for the foreseeable future, my powers were completely inaccessible (Mary had probably given me more of whatever she was using to keep a lid on my powers while I was out), I was still tied up, and I had no idea if people were even looking for me, let alone actually getting close to where I am. 

…And rescuing myself looks to be a bust. Fuuuuuuuck.   
  


There was a creak from behind me, and soon enough, loud footsteps followed. Mary’s heeled shoes clicked as she walked across the floor with slow deliberate steps. She waltzed at a leisurely pace until she stood right in front of me, still smirking in her self-satisfied way. She just grinned as she twirled a silver pallet knife in her hand. “Rise and shine! It’s a new day!” she called cheerfully as she stared down at me. “Yesterday ended too early, and unfortunately for you, I have to cut today’s visit short.”

I sneer and do my best to aim a glob of blood that I spit up at her. “Quite a pity.” I bite out harshly, my breath weakening as I became more and more aware of my possibly shattered ribs. If more of my healing didn’t kick in soon I wasn’t going to have long. 

This is not how I planned on dying. 

Fuck.

“Yes, it means that our little… play is coming to an end.” she said tightly, her eyes hardening as she stepped around the puddle of blood that I’d spit up. “I’m sure you must be confused as to why I brought you here, but as you must have figured out by now, I didn’t come back all on my own… and neither did your precious Garry. Your ever so beloved father helped us out and brought us back. He needs you, you know. I made a deal… he brings me back… and I give you to him.” My blood ran cold. Of course this was just too good to be true. Of course the gift that had been Garry coming back had to be tainted by fucking Satan. 

Satan was behind all of this - everything that had happened this year, was because of him. Us having that case with the Forgotten Portrait was just a way for us to open the portal for Mary’s escape. Garry being brought back was to lure me into a false sense of security and  _ hope.  _ Father Fujimoto was actually right to be weary - my involvement in anything that happened this year was only furthering Satan’s stupid ass agenda. And I fell for all of it! I got involved and now in Mary’s hunger for living in our world, I was going to be used. 

“Your father sends his regards. You see, he needed a way to get to you, because you are the key to his rise to this world. I was the way to get you there!” she giggled, slightly hysterically, but then her face darkened. “But I’m not going to do that. I don’t care about what Satan wants - all I want is my revenge. But our time together is being cut short. Satan is impatient and my time is coming to a close. I  already moved ahead with my plan.”

Her eyes were gazing off with a far away look in her eyes. I had a feeling that she wasn’t so much talking to me as talking to herself. It was like she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying but I didn’t really care all that much about it now. I was too busy trying to absorb what she was telling me. So she… wasn’t going to try and hand me over to Satan? What was she… going to do then? Will she just continue giving me information?

She shuffled awkwardly as she began to pace back and forth in front of me. She looked, dare I say  _ nervous _ . “I’ve already sent the note to your little friends. They’re sure to be on their way by now… but by the time they arrive they will be too late.” she snapped her head over her shoulder to look at me. “I’ve been meaning to ask, Satan spawn. But can you burn?” her eyes had gone wide and none of her previous composure was present any longer. The crazed and desperate look in her eyes was only accentuated by the stark crystal blue that her irises were. It didn’t help that her eyes were also bloodshot. She was fiddling with the pallet knife, seemingly not realizing that she’d cut herself on the edge and was now mutilating her flesh. It was like she just didn’t feel it - her emotions were so wild. It was actually highly likely that she didn’t feel anything that was happening.

After taking a closer look at her, it was easy to see that her body was degrading at the same pace as her mind. The burns scars looked angry and extra melty; fresher and worrying. Her dress was in tatters and her hair, that still looked like it was in curls now also had a layer of tangles and matted areas which gave her a wilder look. She was a thinly veiled mess and her previous attempt at composure while dealing with me was now obviously a ruse. Could this be my chance to escape? Or…

 

Then her words caught up with me. 

She wasn’t planning on handing me over to Satan, but only because her own personal thirst for revenge was stronger than her will to remain in this world apparently. And she’d also sent the cram class a note that had something to do with my current whereabouts considering she was worried that they’d be on their way by now. So that at least, was good. Maybe if I could just hold out… 

 

She’d asked me if I could burn. 

 

She didn’t wait any longer for my response. “Well, no matter. You don’t have access to your powers right now - thank you Satan - so that means you’ll more than likely lose your resistance to fire. Maybe you won’t and it will take longer to burn. I don’t care either way as long as you  _ suffer _ .” her voice had gone hoarse, kind of like she’d been inhaling smoke for a bit. Or screaming. 

“Mary… don’t do this.” dammit I had to try. I wasn’t too keen on finding out if resistance to flames was thing that I had. Burning wasn’t a lot of fun - I’d grabbed enough curlers the wrong way to know! 

She shook her head frantically, the fear now becoming palpable in her eyes. “Pity pity pity, Ib-chan! You know I can’t do that! It’s your fault anyways.” she argued, glancing nervously into the corner and its shadows. “Besides, my time is almost up, so let’s get this done with.” She twirled on her heel, letting the pallet knife slip from her fingers and fall to the floor with an audible thunk. She marched towards the other side of the room, but still managing to be in my eyesight.  She pulled from a small desk table a single lighter, holding it up to the light so that I could see it. Unbidden, my eyes widened in horror as I recognized the lighter she held. 

It was Garry’s lighter.

A normal lighter might fizzle out - what with the shitty wood that it would have to burn through (even if I would die from smoke inhalation anyways) - but this one, this one was similar to my own power. I didn’t ever get the chance to figure out if it was directly connected to my powers or not, but all the same, it was a stronger flame. I’m pretty sure it just runs on demonic energy, and even in her steadily deteriorating state, Mary still had enough power to make this bad. 

She flicked open the cap and lit the lighter. “I’d like to say that it was nice seeing you again, but it wasn’t. It brings me great joy, to watch you burn.” And then in some sort of anime like bullshit, the door gets thrown open. Like it was honestly ridiculous how perfectly that was timed. Here I am, hanging by my broken limbs and bleeding out, about to literally be burned alive because  _ someone  _ just couldn’t stay dead - and then the door gets thrown open right before that dramatic moment when the room goes up in flames. 

In her shock, Mary jerked backwards and  _ dropped the lighter on the ground at her feet. Fucking fantastic.  _ Despite the rescue, we’re still going to die. Bloody brilliant. 

The blue flames licked at the wood and began to crawl up the walls and around the small bits of furniture. So yup, that lighter runs on demonic energy - good to know. Mary somehow managed to look even more panicked, but to her credit she tried to recover well. “You’re too late. You can’t stop it now!” she said a la true movie villain. She made a last ditch effort, but she looked even more grotesque than before. The burns looked fresh and they’d even increased in severity; the flesh melting away at points to reveal black and even white molten flesh. The skin around it was an angry red and she seemed to just magically begin to lose hair. It was actually kind of horrifying to see the clumps of gold tresses begin to fall to the floor and get lost in the blue flames. 

There was a sharp intake of breath from behind me and I could hear someone stumble backwards and I have the brief state of mind to worry about the fact that it was most likely one of the Kyoto Trio. This must be quite the trigger for them. You know, what with the entire blue fire burning down a religious sight. Satan was even involved! But PTSD induced panic later please because I am literally dying here and I’d rather not continue doing that. 

The people at the doors don’t wait much longer to rush in and there’s a thunderous rush of footsteps as people file into the room. A flash of blue and green hair and suddenly Nagisa and Kayano are both in front of me. They’re standing with their backs to me so that they are facing Mary in a defensive stance. “Isogai! Sugino! Get the Cram Class out of her now! Terasaka! Maehara get over here  _ now _ .” Nagisa barked sharply, not once taking his eyes off of the blonde demon standing in front of him. From the small spot in between the two brightly haired teens I was able to see Mary. She looked utterly enraged as she stared at the operatives in front of me. 

“You’re wrecking  _ everything!”  _ She declared as she began to limp forwards. Her one leg was beginning to bleed through the white stockings she wore and it didn’t look like it was going to support her, but she pushed forwards nonetheless. She just walked right through the flames at her feet without issue, the blonde tresses continuing to fall. There was a large commotion behind us, and a lot of yelling - the Cram class was being forcefully removed then - and then there was more footsteps as people ran in and around the stupid ‘x’ that I was stuck to. Terasaka’s bulk and Maehara’s fretting immediately crowded into my vision so that I was unable to see the third person who’d run over to stand in front of both Nagisa and Kayano. 

“Maehara! Status report.” Nagisa snarled. Maehara gently knelt down in front of me and began to inspect my state of being. By the serious look on his face, it seemed to at least look  _ really  _ bad. He gently reached out and put pressure on various limbs, earning himself a grunt or a groan every time his fingers magically found the spots of the break. 

“His legs aren’t in great shape and neither are his arms. They don’t seem to be freshly broken, so his healing hasn’t kicked in yet.” Maehara ducked down and rested his hand on my chest for a moment before calling out some more basic diagnoses. “His breathing isn’t good either - I don’t think his healing ability has kicked in yet. Moving him will be risky but we don’t have the luxury of time.” Well shit. I grimaced as he gently tried to move his hands under my armpits and support my weight slightly. The bonds went slack around my arms as they drooped now that the bonds weren’t forcing them to support my full weight. My knees were kind of just dead and I was internally grateful. 

Maehara grunted under my dead weight and turned to Terasaka. “Get those bonds off of him now. We need to get out of here before the fire spreads and the smoke becomes too much.” he gasped. For once, Terasaka didn’t make a fuss and he immediately began fiddling with my various restraints. I didn’t bother to pay him any mind because in the process of trying to free me he had moved out of my line of sight and I was now able to see the stand off in front of me. 

“You can’t take him!” Mary shrieked shrilly, continuing to move forwards slowly as she spoke. “Ib is mine! He deserves this!” she jerked forwards, her facial expressions becoming unreadable as the blue flames began to lick up her legs and reflect off of her features so that she looked eerie. The third person stepped into view, his long distressed trench coat fluttering as he came to stand directly in my field of view. It was Garry. 

Even after all of the dangerous situations that Garry had followed me into (returning to the Fabricated World was still the worst of all of them if I am going to be honest here), it still amazed me just how  _ brave _ Garry can be. Here he is, confronting his  _ murderer,  _ for  _ me.  _ It was unbelievable and a little bit incredible. He stood tall, not hunched over at all with his shoulders shoved back as he looked down at the blonde demon in front of him. His violet hair seemed to almost glow in the light of the fire. He was magnificent. 

“Mary.” he said curtly, not a single emotion showing in his tone. He sounded  _ dangerous.  _

She shook her head violently. “You can’t take him!” she shrieked again, being to move closer once more. Garry stood firm, summoning his own claws and army of dolls. 

“Nagisa, get Karma out of here. I’ll handle Mary.” he ordered, entering a crouch and not once turning to look back. Nagisa nodded sharply as he left his defensive position to help Terasaka struggle with my bonds. They hadn’t made much progress, and the room was already beginning to fill with smoke around the ceiling. Time was running out. 

Mary stomped her good foot in frustration.. “You know this won’t do anything! You know how this will end Garry! It will end just like it did all those years ago! This time let’s take Ib with us!” she argued, tears beginning to drip from her good eye. “We got brought back for once purpose, and one purpose only. We aren’t fulfilling that purpose and we never will - you know that.  _ He  _ knows that! It’s all your fault! If you’d just followed the rules then I wouldn’t have had to do any of this.” the tears were coming faster now, like an imminent tantrum from the child that she still was. Mary had never really had that chance to grow up, but then again, she’d never been human either.    


“Please, you don’t have to do this. Just let us go, Mary. We can still get out of here.” Garry tried, holding his stance. There was an odd look about his posture though. It was like… he already knew the outcome of this showdown. And it didn’t end in our victory. “You don’t have to kill Ib. You don’t have to kill  _ me.” _

And wasn’t that just the kicker?

“We don’t have a choice!” she growled. “This is how the story ends. This is how it always ends. You’re not getting out of here alive, Garry. You  _ know  _ this. Just accept it! Satan brought us back so that he could rise. I’m killing Ib so that he can’t. Isn’t that a good thing?” she was desperate. For what I didn’t know; maybe stalling for time? “You’re falling apart just like I am! You’ve always known that this time would come - the end. Let’s take Ib with us! Let’s be together again! Like what we should have been.”

Garry’s head drooped. “Just because your time is up - because  _ my  _ time is up, doesn’t meant that we need to take Ib with us. He still has so much he needs to do. I’ve lived a lifetime - I even got more than I thought I would. Let him go, Mary. There’s no point. In the end, the both of us were living on borrowed time. That time is up. It’s time to go.” The flames had reached Garry now, and the molten bodies of the dolls lay around the two demons like bloody carcasses on a battlefield. 

Nagisa and Terasaka had detached me from the ‘x’ by now, but I could barely feel it when Maehara and Terasaka were supporting my weight and beginning to drag me out of the room Garry was  _ on fire _ . Why weren’t they helping him? Why was he on fire? 

“No, no, no, no. We have to get Garry.” I said weakly as they hurried to get me out of the church. Garry was just standing there along with Mary as they burned. Why weren’t they moving?”

Nagisa lead the way out of the church. “It’s too late Karma. We can’t save him.”

No. No, that’s not okay! There’s still time! 

I struggled weakly in the arms of my two former classmates. My head was going fuzzy and the air was hazy. They kept carrying me away into the hallways and away from the room that was almost completely swallowed by the blue flames. “We have to go back.” I tried again, my voice barely more than a whisper. 

Nagisa didn’t even look at me. 

  
  


I lost consciousness before we even left the building. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and I'm so mean...
> 
>  
> 
> next is an epilogue!


	31. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it. It's the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not quite what I wanted to be, but it's done. Maybe I'll go back and rewrite the ending when I get around to editing this fic, but for now, this installment of the series is done. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, and that you'll check out the next one!

Karma P.O.V

I sat down in front of a small rosebush back at Shiemi’s mother’s little shope. It had been about a week since… since I was rescued. And since Garry died. I hadn’t done much for a funeral for Garry. I hadn’t really had the right minframe for something like that. But that’s okay, it wasn’t like there was all that many people here to miss him. I was sure that the E Class would be there, and the cram class would probably show up on principal, but he was a demon, and he’d always just be my summon in their minds. 

No, it was better that I grieved alone and in silence. Shiemi’s mother had been nice enough to let me spend some time working in her gardens after I got out of the True Cross infirmary. So that was how I handled that. Garry wouldn’t have wanted me to stop my life in order to mourn, even if there was a part of me that just really wanted to do that. I knew that I couldn’t afford to do that, because that would mean stopping, and stopping would mean me shutting down. I have a gang to run, I can’t afford to shut down. So I didn’t and buried myself in reality. Kyoya had taken over whatever needed to be done with the Tricksters and the E Class had helped. 

I was left to my own devices. There’s been a moment on my first day in the infirmary when I had tried to summon Garry  in some misguided attempt to bring him back, but I’d only ended up knocking myself out for an hour and producing a small army of big and small creepy dolls. When I’d come to, there’d only been 3 sitting on my pillow and braiding my hair. They hadn’t left until a nurse showed up. 

I had spent the last week of school in the infirmary, being able to take all of my exams thanks to an intervention from Mephisto. The damn demon king had interfered a lot in the fallout of the church being burnt to the ground by blue flames. The Vatican had been notified of the botched attempt to kidnap and use me, but they hadn’t sent anybody which was a relief. Mephisto had apparently been the one to handle all communications with both the Vatican and my teachers. I don’t know what he said to convince them to let me perform my exams in the infirmary, but sure enough, they’d sent over the department heads with all of my exams so that I’d have a supervisor during them and they could make sure I didn’t cheat.

The teachers that weren’t in the know about what the cram class actually did had been informed that I had been kidnapped by the Mafia by accident and that I’d been recovered by the government. Considering that they’d seen Karasuma-sensei around sometimes just sort of ominously standing there, they’d believed the lie easily. It also helped that I was pretty visibly injured, so they all took pity on me and let some things slide - my handwriting being one of them.

My math teacher in particular had been impressed with how well I had performed considering I still had a concussion. They’d graded the tests right there because of a conversation that I’d had with Mephisto on my first day being conscious.

 

* * *

_ “Hello Rin-chan! It is I! You’re dearest older brother!” came the cheerful call from the door of the private room that I’d been put into. They couldn’t risk sending me to the normal True Cross infirmary because of how fast that I heal when the healing factor kicks in - it would look suspicious if someone who was literally half dead suddenly got better. Still it had taken far too long for me to heal and I still wasn’t in the greatest shape. There was a lot of residual and phantom pain from Mary’s attack, and the Vatican doctors that specialized in demon biology  to make sure that that herb was out of my system. I should’ve been able to heal myself faster, but the doctors had been nervous that my powers would cause the bones to heal incorrectly so they slowed down my metabolism a bit. _

_ I wasn’t pleased with that decision, but I understood why it had to be done. Still, exams were currently going on and I still had no idea what I was going to do about that. If I didn’t take these exams, then I was going to get awful grades in all of my classes, and I simply couldn’t allow that. No matter what shape I’m in, getting bad grades is unacceptable. I’ve worked so hard to get here, I can’t let  _ Mary  _ of all people, wreck my future for me.  _

_ When I first woke up Nagisa had assured me that with the cover story they’d been told, my teachers would understand, but I was still displeased. I’d been awake for a couple hours now, and for the first time since I’d been rescued, I was alone. Of course, Mephisto had to ruin it. “What do you want, Pheles?” I groaned, my voice still hoarse from my time in captivity. Mephisto flounced in and proceeded to perch himself on the bottom of my bed, a wide grin plastered on to his face.  _

_ “Why, Rin-chan! Can’t an older brother check on his baby brother?” he asked, his grin all teeth. At my unimpressed look, he surprisingly cut the crap and got serious. “I’ve informed the Vatican of what has transpired, and I’ve taken the liberty of informing your teachers about your… circumstances. I’m sure your associates have told you the cover story. I’m sure you’d much prefer talking about this with one of your trusted advisors, but unfortunately you don’t have that luxury. As the headmaster of this school, I am the one you need to be talking to. Do you have any questions?” _

_ I’d never seen this side of Mephisto before, so it was pretty understandable as to why I was caught off guard by his sudden seriousness. This entire situation was just bizarre and nothing really felt real right now. It was incredibly distressing.  “What am I going to do about exams?” I ask immediately, deciding to deal with the school aspect of this situation since Mephisto was the first one to bring it up. I could deal with… everything else after.  _

_ “Well for that you have two options; you could wait until you’re healed and then do your exams, in which case you’ll have to stay on school premises longer than I’m sure you’d like to - or you could take your exams starting tomorrow. I’ve spoken with your teachers and made arrangements for either situation.” Mephisto informed me. “Of course, it’s up to you what you want to do, but might I give you some advice?” I simply nod wordlessly. He is going to give it regardless, but at this point, I think I actually want that advice. “Your choice depends on whether or not you want to return to True Cross for another year.” _

_ I sorta just sat there for a moment. I’d been awake for about 5 hours and now I was having to think about my future. Great.  _

_ If I was going to be honest with myself, I don’t know if I really want to stay here. Sure the cram class wasn’t as awful as it used to be, but I already knew everything that Yukio and Shura were teaching us and technically I was already an exorcist - and a high ranking one at that. The only reason I’d still been forced to go here was to watch over Yukio for signs of him developing demonic powers. He hasn’t yet, and considering he was put in a high stress situation (rescuing me) and no powers appeared, I think that it’s pretty safe to say that he won’t be developing any. Plus, Karasuma-sensei would be here to watch over him for me, so the Vatican will have someone to watch the other Satan spawn. _

_ The classes at True Cross were good, and I’d stay just for those, but the memories that this academy would bring… well I don’t think that I’d really be able to cope with staying here longer than I have to. It was hard enough looking at the four walls of this room, but the entire campus just made my skin crawl right now. Everyone here knew about what had happened to me - or at least the cover story - and I know that they won’t treat me the same. I don’t want to be coddled. What I went through was horrible and mentally scarring, and I’ll probably never be the same again; but I can take care of myself. I don’t need the pitying looks that all the painfully  _ normal  _ students will give me. _

_ Honestly I just won’t be able to get over this if I stay. I won’t be able to get past all of my newly developed issues, and that’ll cripple me. I need to get away. “I would like to transfer to another school.” I say decisively. The only problem was deciding where to go, and if I would want to try having a shot at normal or if I would want to find another unique school. Would I want to go public? Or would I want to pay for better education and name? There was a lot to consider. _

_ Mephisto nodded in understanding. “Yes, I do think that that would be for the best. There’s nothing more that this school can do for you.” He shifted slightly. “If you don’t plan on returning, I’d suggest getting your exams over with as quickly as possible. I can have the teachers grade the exams and get your final transcript together by the day after if you do, which will give you more time to get out of here and take placement exams at the next school of your choosing. I have no doubt that you want high school to be over with as quickly as possible, and you have the IQ to do it.” _

_ “If I could start my exams tomorrow that would be great. I’m sure that I’ll be able to handle them. I’ve certainly handled worse.” I say, albeit a bit awkwardly. I wasn’t really thinking straight right now, but I know that I can ace those exams. I’d studied more than enough to do any of them in my sleep even without my brains.  Mephisto stood up.  _

_ “I’ll have someone tell your friends to pack up your things and get them back to that apartment that you keep. I’ll be in contact. Eins zwei drei!” And then he poofed out of existence dramatically, no doubt returning to his office. I sighed heavily before leaning back into my pillows thoroughly exhausted. The next couple of days were going to be very long. _

 

* * *

And boy was I right. Those exams had been a pain in my butt, but I’d passed with flying colours and that was all that mattered. Sure enough, Mephisto had happily handed me my transcript and signature of approval before going on his way. Nagisa and Sugino had come in and told me that they’d fixed up my apartment and emptied my dorm room, for which I was incredibly thankful for. I didn’t really want to return to that awful dorm building, and now I wouldn’t have to. 

Exams lasted the full week, but since I did more than 2 exams a day, I was able to finish my exams much sooner than the others. I had only been held in the infirmary for another way, and as such I had free time. Thinking after going through a traumatic experience was not something that I wanted to do, so I wandered around and tried to keep busy. Eventually I found myself at Shiemi’s mother’s shop, and she allowed me to loiter and help around while the exams and last few classes that didn’t have exams, finished. Sugino and Shindou were the absolute best and let me stay with them after I was released so that I would still be on campus in case anything were to happen. It was different, staying in the actual dorms, but it was enough for the time being. 

The only classes and/or ceremonies that I would be forced to attend were those on the last day where the teachers would hand back any report card, projects, and transcripts that students needed. It was like a free day where people could say goodbye to their friends and just relax for a day after exams. I was almost all healed up now, and I was hoping that that little fact would allow me to get away with lying about how serious my injuries were. If there were only scars (because my metabolism and healing factor apparently didn’t get rid of scars) then I could cover them up. I was still sore, but that couldn’t be helped.

So it was the last day of classes, and of fucking course, I had to stay later than normal because there was still the last cram class to deal with. Well that and I had to make my announcement to the other exwires. I owed them a goodbye, after their (albeit meager) contributions to my rescue. So yeah, I’m making my way from the garden back to True Cross and hoping that Yukio won’t scold me for being late. Since school is technically finishing up right now, there’s just a bunch of students all over the streets. I’m wearing my uniform, so I  _ know  _ that people recognize me, but in a surprising turn of events, no one approaches me. Not even to give well wishes. 

Thank fuck. 

 

The actual building that the cram classes were held in was basically deserted. There was next to no one on the streets, and it was oddly quiet in the building. I didn’t have that uneasy feeling though - it wasn’t quiet in that way. I walked through the halls, allowing the dress shoes that I was wearing to click on the hardwood floor as I went. Sooner than I would have liked, I found myself standing just outside the door to the cram classroom. 

Well, I guess that it’s show time. 

I don’t bother knocking, and instead I just wander in and plop myself down into my usual seat, suppressing a wince when it jostles the fresh scars on my back. There’s been some quiet conversation going on in the background, but it had stopped as soon as they’d seen me. “So how’ve you all been?” I ask casually, slouching in my seat and propping my feet up on the desk beside me. For a moment the cram kids just sort of stared at me like they couldn’t believe I was here. “Brilliant rescue, by the way. Thanks for that.”

There was a moment of silence before suddenly the room burst into pure chaos as everyone rushed around the desk. None of them had been able to visit him after I’d been rushed to the infirmary to set my bones and fix any internal bleeding. They’d all had their exams (not having the same luxury of an excuse as I did) so they hadn’t had the time to stop by before I’d been released. This is the first time that they’d seen me since the rescue, and I kinda felt bad that this would most likely be the last time that they’d see me for a long time. 

I just needed to do this. I can afford to be selfish right now. 

Over the clamber of noise I raised my own and called for quiet. “One at a time guys! I can’t hear all of you.” I’m smirking, even if it’s not reaching my eyes. They don’t seem to be able to tell though, so I think that I’m safe. 

“How are you feeling?” Yukio immediately asks. 

I shrug noncommittally. “I’ve been worse.” I settle on saying, even if it wasn’t exactly true. That was probably the most I’ve ever been injured at one time. Some of those injuries were pretty severe. 

Izumo is the next one to speak up. “I can’t believe that you finished your exams literally in a hospital bed.” I grin cheekily at her. 

“Well I studied a lot for those exams,” I snark, “I refuse to get a bad grade. Ever.” She rolls her eyes at me but grins nonetheless and I relax marginally. 

Shima looks at me in awe. “Still dude, there’s no way that I would have been able to do that.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. I’m me, and you’re an idiot.”

Shima squawked indignantly. There was a round of loud laughter in everyone and soon enough we dissolved into pleasant conversations. But then came the time for the end of class. 

“Alright! That will conclude your first year of cram class!” Yukio cheered, his face lit up with happiness and pride. “I look forward to teaching you all next year, so please don’t let your skills slack!” Well that’s my cue, isn’t it.

Just as everyone began to stand up, I began to speak, my voice echoing through the room. “Actually I do have something that I need to tell you guys. I’m not coming back next year. I’m transferring.” I look Yukio right in the eye as I say this, witnessing his expression turn from happy to distraught.

“What?” he whispered in shock. “Why?” His voice was heartbroken. 

I glance over at the rest of the cram class to see that they looked equally gutted. Even tsundere Izumo. “This place has too many bad memories. I need some time to heal - besides the only reason that I actually ended up coming to True Cross was to watch over you.” I sigh, revealing the real reason that I had come. It might hurt, but hopefully they’d understand. “I was sent by the Vatican to watch over you Yukio, to make sure that you didn’t develop any powers. You’ve been in many life threatening and high stress situations - in none of them did you show any sign of developing powers. It’s highly likely that you never will. I took the exorcists exam before I went to the monastery and I passed it because I already knew about demons. I have nothing more that I can learn from you anymore.”

Everyone is sort of quiet for a moment, and then Izumo sniffs and furiously wipes at her eyes. “Well, you know what’s best for you - and I understand why it isn’t here.” There was another particularly loud sniff and she glared at me. “You better keep in touch, you hear me?! I want emails or a text message every week with all the gossip from your new school.” she stomped her foot in a typical tsundere smile and I couldn’t help but smile softly at her.

“You bet.”

After another beat of silence, Yukio looked down at me with an odd look on his face. “Where are you going to go?” Yukio asked quietly, looking at me with his eyes filled with water. I look away, avoiding everyone’s gazes. 

“It’s a school that some of my close… friends go to. Ouran Academy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read this and commented! It has been a wild journey, and hopefully the next one will go much smoother. It just might be delayed because I have to reread and edit all parts of this series before I can move on so that I can get my facts straight.


End file.
